Opinion
June 15, 1995
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Albany County.
Petitioner, a prison inmate, was charged with, inter alia, fighting, assault and possession of a weapon in violation of certain prison disciplinary rules. He pleaded guilty with an explanation to the fighting charge and not guilty to the remaining charges. Following a hearing, petitioner was found guilty as charged and was disciplined accordingly. Petitioner's administrative appeal was denied and he then commenced this proceeding.
Petitioner contends that the fight with the other inmate would not have occurred if prison officials had heeded his prior warnings that enmity existed between the two. As the Hearing Officer noted, however, if petitioner was "so concerned he should have backed off". In any event, we do not consider selfhelp to be an acceptable remedy ( see generally, Matter of Rivera v. Smith, 63 N.Y.2d 501, 515). With respect to the assault and weapon charges, the correction officer's misbehavior report and his testimony were based on his first-hand observations and any questions of credibility were for the Hearing Officer to resolve ( see, Matter of Maisonave v. Coughlin, 167 A.D.2d 578). Based on the record before us, we find substantial evidence to support the finding of guilt and the determination must therefore be upheld ( see, Matter of De Torres v. Coughlin, 135 A.D.2d 1068, lv denied 72 N.Y.2d 801). We have reviewed petitioner's remaining claims that his due process and regulatory rights were violated and find them to be either lacking in merit or not properly preserved for our review.
Mikoll, Mercure, Casey and Peters, JJ., concur. Adjudged that the determination is confirmed, without costs, and petition dismissed.