Matter of Booker v Artus
2008 NY Slip Op 04415 [51 AD3d 1235]
May 15, 2008
Appellate Division, Third Department
As corrected through Wednesday, July 16, 2008


In the Matter of Lance Booker, Petitioner, v Dale Artus, asSuperintendent of Clinton Correctional Facility, Respondent.

[*1]Lance Booker, Dannemora, petitioner pro se.

Andrew M. Cuomo, Attorney General, Albany (Frank Brady of counsel), forrespondent.

Proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 (transferred to this Court by order of the SupremeCourt, entered in Clinton County) to review a determination of the Commissioner of CorrectionalServices which found petitioner guilty of violating a prison disciplinary rule.

After petitioner's urine specimen twice tested positive for cocaine, he was charged in amisbehavior report with using a controlled substance. A tier III disciplinary hearing wasthereafter conducted, at the conclusion of which petitioner was found guilty. That determinationwas affirmed upon administrative appeal and this CPLR article 78 proceeding ensued.

We confirm. The misbehavior report and hearing testimony, together with the positiveurinalysis test results and related documentation, provide substantial evidence to support thedetermination of guilt (see Matter ofMoretti v Selsky, 46 AD3d 1049, 1050 [2007]). Petitioner's claim that a false positivewas created because of medication administered during his recent dental surgery was sufficientlyrefuted by a representative from the manufacturer of the testing equipment and, in any event,presented a credibility issue for resolution by the Hearing Officer (see Matter of Polite v Goord, 36 AD3d971, 971 [2007]). Petitioner's remaining contentions have been examined and, to the extentpreserved, are without merit.

Cardona, P.J., Carpinello, Rose, Kavanagh and Stein, JJ., concur. Adjudged that thedetermination is confirmed, without costs, and petition dismissed.


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