Boddie v. New York State Div. Of Parole

• Decision Date: 30 September 2003
• Docket Number: No. 03 Civ. 2599(RWS).,03 Civ. 2599(RWS).
• Citation: 285 F.Supp.2d 421
• Parties: Terence BODDIE, Petitioner, v. NEW YORK STATE DIVISION OF PAROLE, et al., Respondents.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

285 F.Supp.2d 421

Terence BODDIE, Petitioner, v. NEW YORK STATE DIVISION OF PAROLE, et al., Respondents.

No. 03 Civ. 2599(RWS).

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

September 30, 2003.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Terence Boddie, Arthur-Kill Correctional Facility, Staten Island, NY, Petitioner, pro se.

Honorable Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of the State of New York, Habeas Corpus Section, Criminal Division, New York, NY, By: Darian B. Taylor, Assistant Attorney General, for Respondents, of counsel.

OPINION

SWEET, District Judge.

Terence Boddie, who is currently incarcerated at the Arthur-Kill Correctional Facility, petitions for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, alleging that his parole denial on November 8, 2000 violated his rights under both the New York Constitution and the U.S. Constitution. For the reasons set forth below, the petition is denied.

Prior Proceedings

A full account of Boddie's conviction, appeals, and post-conviction proceedings can be found at Boddie v. N.Y.S. Div. of Parole, No. 02 Civ. 8731, 2003 WL 22004837, (S.D.N.Y. Aug.22, 2003), familiarity with which is presumed. Boddie has been denied parole on three occasions. The following summary focuses on the second parole denial on November 8, 2000, which is the subject of the instant petition.

Boddie's conviction arose out of the sexual assault of a twenty-seven year-old woman in Manhattan on April 20, 1991. Boddie and his two co-defendants, Matthew Randall and Ronald Austin, detained the victim in a locked bedroom while Randall pointed a shotgun at her and order her to undress. Randall, Boddie, and Austin each forced the victim to perform oral sex. Boddie's co-defendants also raped and sodomized the victim while Boddie was present. After the victim was released, she went directly to the police. The victim identified all three men (a fourth man present in the bedroom was never apprehended), and they were placed under arrest.

Boddie was tried in New York County Supreme Court before a jury and was convicted of four counts of Rape in the First Degree, five counts of Sodomy in the First Degree and two counts of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree. Boddie was sentenced to a total indeterminate period of six to eighteen years incarceration. The Appellate Division affirmed the convictions and sentences on April 2, 1996, see People v. Boddie, 226 A.D.2d 120, 640 N.Y.S.2d 47 (1st Dep't 1996), and the New York Court of Appeals denied leave to appeal on August 13, 1996. See People v. Boddie, 88 N.Y.2d 980, 672 N.E.2d 613, 649 N.Y.S.2d 387 (N.Y.1996).

On November 17, 1998, Boddie appeared before the New York State Parole Board for his initial parole hearing. The Parole Board denied parole. The initial parole denial was the subject of a habeas petition before this Court which was dismissed on August 7, 2003. See Boddie, 2003 WL 22004837.¹ Boddie appeared before the Parole Board on November 8, 2000 for his second hearing. The Board again denied parole, finding based on a review of Boddie's entire record that "if released at this time there is a reasonable probability that you would not live and remain at liberty without violating the law and your release at this time is incompatible with the welfare and safety of the community."

In connection with his challenge to his initial parole denial, Boddie also moved to have his Pre-Sentencing Report and Inmate Status Report reviewed and expunged of factually inaccurate material. Justice Barbara Krapnick, on a default judgment, ordered the Parole Board to review their files and to determine whether Boddie's Pre-Sentencing Report required modification, in light of Boddie's allegation that it contained inaccurate information. In the Matter of Boddie v. Dodds, Index No. 404153/99 (Sup.Ct., N.Y.County, December 15, 1999). In response, the phrase "admitted guilt in the instant offense" was removed from the Pre-Sentencing Report. Boddie's Inmate Status Report was also modified to redact that portion which indicated that Boddie had smoked cocaine and wielded a shotgun.

Before filing an administrative appeal of the 2000 parole denial, Boddie filed an Article 78 petition in New York Supreme Court, Albany County, challenging the Parole Board's decision to deny him parole release in 2000. In his motion, Boddie contended that the Parole Board had acted inappropriately by failing to postpone his parole hearing until a corrected Pre-Sentence Report and Inmate Status Report were prepared, in light of Judge Krapnick's December 15, 1999 order. On May 3, 2001, Supreme Court Justice Thomas Keegan dismissed the petition on the ground that Boddie had failed to preserve the issue, having never raised the issue of his Pre-Sentencing Report or Inmate Report at his parole hearing; the court also noted that Boddie still had administrative remedies. In the Matter of Boddie v. N.Y.S. Div. of Parole, Index No. 7344-00, RJI No. 0100ST1478 (Sup.Ct., Albany County, May 3, 2001). This decision was affirmed on appeal on April 18, 2002 on the ground that Boddie had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies prior to submitting his Article 78 petition. In the Matter of Boddie v. N.Y.S. Div. of Parole, 293 A.D.2d 884, 740 N.Y.S.2d 247 (3d Dep't 2002).

Boddie filed a subsequent Article 78 petition in Albany County, seeking a copy of the transcript of his November 2000 parole hearing. Because Boddie received a copy of his transcript shortly thereafter, the petition was dismissed as moot by order dated September 4, 2001. In the Matter of Boddie v. N.Y.S. Div. of Parole, Index No. 2374-01, RJI No. 0101-ST1826 (Sup. Ct., Albany County, Sept. 4, 2001).

After exhausting his administrative remedies in regards to his 2000 parole hearing, Boddie filed yet another Article 78 petition in Albany County, challenging the Board's 2000 decision for a variety of reasons, including its consideration of the seriousness of his offenses, his youthful offender adjudication, and a disciplinary violation later reversed. Boddie again challenged the use of the uncorrected Pre-Sentence Report. Justice Bernard Malone denied the petition by order dated August 8, 2002, finding that "the transcript of the parole interview discloses that many of the statutory factors were discussed and the stated reasons for denial was the `extremely heinous' nature of the crime and a belief that the petitioner would still pose a threat to society if not incarcerated." In the Matter of Boddie v. N.Y.S. Div. of Parole, Index No. 1567-02 (Sup.Ct., Albany County, August 8, 2002). The court found that the Board could properly consider the seriousness of the crime as well as Boddie's youthful offender adjudication in denying parole. Id. All the remaining contentions were found to be equally without merit, given the Board's appropriate use of the applicable statutory factors. Id.

Boddie appeared before the Parole Board a third time on January 14, 2003. The Board again denied parole, finding based on Boddie's record that "if released at this time there is a reasonable probability that you would not live and remain at liberty without violating the law and your release at this time is incompatible with the welfare and safety of the community."

The appellate court dismissed the appeal of the 2000 parole denial on June 12, 2003 on the grounds that Boddie had since appeared for another parole hearing in January 2003, rendering the appeal moot. In the Matter of Boddie v. N.Y.S. Div. of Parole, 306 A.D.2d 661, 759 N.Y.S.2d 910 (3d Dep't 2003).

Boddie timely filed the present habeas petition, pro se, on April 14, 2003, for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 after first exhausting his remedies in state court. In place of a formal petition for habeas corpus, Boddie submitted the brief he had previously filed on September 24, 2001 with the Appellate Division, Third Department when he appealed the denial of his Article 78 petition by Justice Keegan. Rather than answering the instant habeas petition directly, respondent New York State Division of Parole ("NYSDOP") elected to rely on the opposition papers it had filed in connection with Boddie's initial habeas petition. Boddie responded to NYSDOP's decision to rely on its previous briefs by letter dated June 8, 2003, at which time the motion was deemed fully submitted.

Discussion

Boddie argues that the denial of parole at the 2000 hearing deprived him of constitutional rights because (1) NYSDOP failed to postpone the hearing even though the Pre-Sentence Report which formed the basis for the parole summary was based upon false and inaccurate information; (2) the State court erred in determining that Boddie had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies; (3) the State court erred when it determined that the Parole Board did not rely on the false and inaccurate contained in the Pre-Sentence Report; and (4) the State Court erred in determining that a weapon was involved in Boddie's crime.

Respondent NYSDOP opposes the grant of a writ of habeas corpus. NYSDOP acknowledges that Boddie's petition is timely filed and that Boddie has exhausted the remedies available to him in State court. But NYSDOP argues that because Boddie received a subsequent parole hearing in January 2003 at which he was denied parole, the challenges to his 2000 parole hearing are thereby rendered moot.

Standard of Review

In addressing the present motion, the Court is mindful that the plaintiff is proceeding pro se and that his submissions should be held "`to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers....'" Hughes v. Rowe, 449 U.S. 5, 9, 101 S.Ct. 173, 176, 66 L.Ed.2d 163 (1980) (per curiam) (quoting Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520, 92 S.Ct. 594, 595, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972)); see also Ferran v. Town of Nassau, 11 F.3d 21, 22 (2d Cir.1993). Indeed, district courts should "`read the pleadings of a pro se plaintiff liberally and interpret them to raise the strongest arguments they suggest.'" McPherson v....