Wright v. Regan

46 A.D.2d 163, 361 N.Y.S.2d 437, 1974 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3443
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedDecember 5, 1974
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 46 A.D.2d 163 (Wright v. Regan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wright v. Regan, 46 A.D.2d 163, 361 N.Y.S.2d 437, 1974 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3443 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1974).

Opinion

Marsh, P. J.

These are cross appeals from a judgment in an article 78 proceeding which granted petitioner’s request for a parole revocation hearing, granted petitioner’s request for relief for all parolees similarly situated and denied, petitioner’s motion to dismiss all outstanding parole violation charges pending against him.

The petitioner is a detainee at Erie County Penitentiary awaiting trial on an indictment handed down in December of 1972 by the Wyoming County Grand. Jury inquiring into the Attica uprising. Also lodged against petitioner is a parole delinquency detainer warrant issued by the New York State Board of Parole in June of 1972. Respondents are the Chairman of the New York State Board of Parole, the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Correctional Services and the New York State Board of Parole. The petition asserts [165]*165that Richard Wright is confined to the Brie County Jail as a State prisoner. On April 17, 1968 petitioner was sentenced to a term of imprisonment not to exceed six years. His maximum expiration date was to occur on April 19,1974. On May 19, 1972 petitioner was conditionally released from Attica Correctional Facility. On June 21, 1972, he was convicted of assault in the third degree and pled guilty ,to a charge of disorderly conduct and was sentenced to serve one year in the Brie County Penitentiary. In December, 1972 petitioner was indicted by the Wyoming County Grand Jury for offenses committed during the Attica insurrection in September, 1971. On July 21, 1972, petitioner’s one-year sentence to the Brie County Penitentiary expired and he applied for bail upon the Attica indictment. A bail hearing was held and bail was fixed at $500 cash or $2,000 bond. Petitioner was notified that even though he raised the bail, he could not be released because of the parole detainer warrant filed by the New York State Parole authorities. Petitioner requested a parole revocation hearing at the Brie Bounty Penitentiary but was informed by the New York State Parole authorities that the parole revocation hearing could not be conducted until petitioner was transferred to the custody of the New York State Department of Correctional Services. Petitioner has never seen the detainer warrant and has never been informed as to what parole violations he is alleged to have committed. It would appear from the Attorney-General’s brief that the parole detainer is based upon petitioner’s conviction of assault third and disorderly conduct. However, nowhere in the record or in any briefs is the exact nature of the parole violation charges stated. The questions presented for review are:

(1) Whether petitioner is entitled to a parole revocation hearing although custody had not attached to the New York State Department of Correction at the time of the filing of the detainer and still has not attached.

(2) If petitioner is entitled to a prompt parole revocation hearing and the same has been denied, did the circumstances of that denial, including its length, so prejudice petitioner’s rights that he is now entitled to a dismissal of those charges.

(3) Is this a proper case for permitting class action relief to all parolees similarly situated.

A determination of the question whether petitioner is entitled to a hearing while awaiting trial on the Wyoming County indictment should start with a consideration of the statutory provision for declaring a conditional release delinquency and

[166]*166revoking parole. Subdivision 7 of section 212 of the Correction Law provides: " Whenever there is reasonable cause to believe that a person who is on parole or conditional release has violated the conditions thereof, the board of parole as soon as practicable shall declare such person to be delinquent. Thereafter, the board shall at the first available opportunity permit the alleged violator to appear personally, but not through counsel or others, before a panel of .three members and explain the alleged violation. Such appearance shall be either at an institution under the jurisdiction of the state department of correction or at such other place as may be designated pursuant to rules and regulations of the board. The board shall within a reasonable time make a determination on any such declaration of delinquency either ,by dismissing the declaration or revoking the parole or conditional release.”

Subdivision 10 of section 212 of the Correction Law provides for the promulgation of rules and regulations necessary to carry out the duties of the Division of Parole assigned to it by the section.

The rules of the Board of Parole relating to proceedings on violations of parole provide for .the issuance of a warrant for the retaking and temporary detention of a parole violator by a member of the Board of Parole or an officer of the Division of Parole designated by the board. The parole violator is thus detained in a temporary detention facility whenever he may be found and a warrant of return issued. It is further optionally provided that a warrant of return may be held in abeyance until the new charges have been disposed of by the court where the defendant is being held on another charge (7 NYCRR 1.18).

The rules governing revocation hearings provide that a hearing to determine revocation or conditional parole shall be scheduled as soon as practicable after the return of an alleged violator to a State operated correctional facility (7 NYCRR 1.19 [e]). Thus, it is evident that the rules do not mandate a prompt hearing under .the circumstances of petitioner Wright. The rules make it optional whether a warrant of return is held in abeyance pending the disposition of new charges and that it is only at such time as the parole violator is returned to a State correctional institution that a parole violation hearing is to be scheduled.

. .Concerning the right to a revocation hearing the Supreme Court in Morrissey v. Brewer (408 U. S. 471, 478-479) stated: “ There must also be an opportunity for a hearing, if it is desired by the parolee, prior to the final decision on revocation [167]*167by the parole authority. * * * The parolee must have an opportunity to be heard and to show, if he can, that he did not violate the conditions, or, if he did, that circumstances in mitigation suggest that the violation does not warrant revocation. The revocation hearing must be tendered within a reasonable time after the parolee is taken into custody. A lapse of two months, as the [state] suggest[s] occurs in some cases, would not appear to be unreasonable.”

Thus, petitioner is entitled to a reasonably prompt hearing under Morrissey which he has been denied (see, also, People ex rel. Menechino v. Warden, 27 N Y 2d 376).

Petitioner is entitled to a prompt revocation hearing notwithstanding the fact that the parole violation charges are based upon the conviction of a crime and he is entitled to counsel at such a hearing notwithstanding the regulations of the Parole Board (7 NYCRR 1.19 [c]; People ex rel. Donohoe v. Montanye, 35 N Y 2d 221, decided Oct. 8, 1974). In Donohoe the Court of Appeals invalidated the regulation of the Board of Parole which denied the assistance of counsel at a final revocation hearing where the basis for the parole violation charge is the conviction of a crime. In Donohoe just as in the instant case, the conviction was for third degree assault. The same rationale outlined in Donohoe

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Bluebook (online)
46 A.D.2d 163, 361 N.Y.S.2d 437, 1974 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3443, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wright-v-regan-nyappdiv-1974.