Carrillo v. Fabian

• Decision Date: 28 July 2005
• Docket Number: No. A03-1663.,A03-1663.
• Citation: 701 N.W.2d 763
• Parties: Richard James CARRILLO, Appellant, v. Joan FABIAN, Commissioner of Corrections, Respondent.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

701 N.W.2d 763

Richard James CARRILLO, Appellant, v. Joan FABIAN, Commissioner of Corrections, Respondent.

No. A03-1663.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

July 28, 2005.

Mike Hatch, Minnesota State Attorney General, Elizabeth Richter Schaffer, Jennifer A. Service, Assistant Attorneys General, St. Paul, MN, for Respondent.

Mikael Merissa, Teresa Nelson, ACLU of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, for Amicus Curiae ACLU of Minnesota.

Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.

OPINION

ANDERSON, PAUL H., Justice.

Appellant Richard Carrillo seeks review of a Minnesota Court of Appeals decision affirming the Washington County District Court's denial of his petition for writ of habeas corpus. Carrillo argues that the Commissioner of Corrections violated his constitutional rights by failing to provide him with sufficient procedural due process before extending his period of imprisonment by seven days. The commissioner extended Carrillo's incarceration time after a Department of Corrections (DOC) hearing officer found that Carrillo committed the disciplinary offense of disorderly conduct. In finding that Carrillo had engaged in disorderly conduct, the hearing officer used the following standard of proof specified by the DOC's policy: "some evidence in the record to support the charged violation of the offender disciplinary regulations." We reverse.

On November 23, 1999, a jury convicted appellant Richard Carrillo of the offense of drive-by shooting for the benefit of a gang. The district court convicted him of this offense and imposed an executed sentence of 114 months. At sentencing, Carrillo was informed that he would serve two-thirds of his time in prison and one-third on supervised release unless he committed a disciplinary offense. See Minn.Stat. § 244.101, subds. 1-2 (2004). Carrillo is incarcerated at the Minnesota Correctional Facility at Faribault (MCFF).

On May 24, 2002, a fight broke out at MCFF while Carrillo was on the prison baseball field with several other inmates. As a result of the fight, the prison guards called the inmates back inside the prison living quarters. As Carrillo walked toward the living quarters with a group of about ten other inmates, one of the inmates in his group, Robert Mendez, fell to the ground.

Lieutenant Susan Williams was in charge of administering the prison that day in the warden's absence. Williams saw Mendez fall and filed an incident report in which she stated that Carrillo had shoved Mendez to the ground. Carrillo was given a Notice of Violation that stated that he was charged with violating Offender Discipline Regulations 320 and 412— disorderly conduct and assault of an inmate. A disciplinary hearing was held on June 5, 2002, before a DOC hearing officer. Carrillo was not represented by counsel at that hearing, although he did have a right to have a "representative" assist him in the preparation and presentation of his case.

At the hearing, Williams was the only witness to testify for the commissioner. She stated that she saw a white inmate put his hands on another inmate's shoulders and push him to the ground. She said she "couldn't identify [the inmate] that had gotten pushed," but that there was "no doubt in [her] mind" that Carrillo pushed the inmate. She testified that she identified Carrillo by his clothing and by "watch[ing] where he was walking." The record reflects that at the time of the incident, Carrillo wore a white t-shirt, gray sweatpants, and tennis shoes—the same outfit worn by all of the other inmates who were playing baseball.

Williams said she could not identify Carrillo's face because she was about 50 yards away from the inmates when the pushing incident occurred, but she maintained constant visual contact with Carrillo from the time she saw the incident until he reached the door to the living quarters. After witnessing the incident, Williams radioed the guards at the living quarters building and told them that a white inmate wearing a white t-shirt and gray sweatpants was approaching the building. Williams instructed the guards that when "the next white person comes in * * *, grab his ID." Based on Williams' information, the guards detained Carrillo.

Carrillo, Mendez, and a third inmate, Andrew McNalley, testified for Carrillo. Carrillo testified that he did not push anyone to the ground. Mendez testified that he stumbled and fell on his own while jogging toward the building and that no one shoved him. McNalley testified that he was present during the incident and that Mendez fell on his own and was not pushed.

In determining whether Carrillo had committed the disciplinary violations charged, the hearing officer relied on the standard of proof established by the DOC for major violations, which requires only that there be "some evidence in the record to support the charged violation of the offender disciplinary regulations." Minn. Dept. of Corr. Policy 303.010, H.¹ The hearing officer determined that Williams had clearly identified Carrillo as the person who pushed Mendez to the ground and that Mendez and McNalley were not credible. The hearing officer then found that Carrillo committed the offense of disorderly conduct and imposed a punishment of 45 days in segregation. Carrillo appealed the hearing officer's decision to the warden, and the warden affirmed. As a direct result of the decision, Carrillo served 23 days in segregation, and the commissioner delayed Carrillo's supervised release date by seven days, from April 4 to April 11, 2006.

Carrillo brought a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in Washington County District Court, arguing that the commissioner violated his constitutional rights by extending his term of imprisonment without providing sufficient procedural due process. The district court denied Carrillo's petition on August 26, 2003. The court of appeals affirmed the district court, concluding that Carrillo had not shown a protected liberty interest in his release date, and that even if he had, he received all process due. Carrillo v. Fabian, 2004 WL 1049206 (Minn.App. May 11, 2004) (unpublished opinion). We granted Carrillo's petition for review.

I.

Whether due process is required in a particular case is a question of law, which we review de novo. Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 481, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972); Alcozer v. N. Country Food Bank, 635 N.W.2d 695, 701 (Minn.2001). While a prison inmate does not enjoy the full range of rights and privileges available to ordinary citizens, he does not surrender all of his constitutional rights upon incarceration. Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 555, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974). The United States Supreme Court has stated, "[t]here is no iron curtain drawn between the Constitution and the prisons of this country." Id. at 555-56, 94 S.Ct. 2963. Inmates are entitled to some degree of protection under the Due Process Clause; thus, prison authorities must provide inmates with an appropriate level of due process before they are deprived of a protected liberty interest. Id. at 556, 94 S.Ct. 2963.

When engaging in a due process analysis, a court must conduct two inquiries. First, the court must determine whether the complainant has a liberty or property interest with which the state has interfered. Ky. Dep't of Corr. v. Thompson, 490 U.S. 454, 460, 109 S.Ct. 1904, 104 L.Ed.2d 506 (1989). Second, if the court finds a deprivation of such an interest, it must determine whether the procedures attendant upon that deprivation were constitutionally sufficient. Id.

We first must determine whether Carrillo has a liberty interest in his supervised release date. The Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution provides that a state shall not "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law." U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1. The Supreme Court has ruled that courts must look to the nature of an interest to determine if it is within the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment's protection of liberty and property. Bd. of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 570-71, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972); see also Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 472, 484, 115 S.Ct. 2293, 132 L.Ed.2d 418 (1995). Though the range of liberty interests protected by procedural due process is broad, it is not infinite. Roth, 408 U.S. at 570, 92 S.Ct. 2701. A constitutionally-protected liberty interest arises from a legitimate claim of entitlement rather than simply an abstract need or desire or a unilateral expectation. Greenholtz v. Inmates of Neb. Penal and Corr. Complex, 442 U.S. 1, 7, 99 S.Ct. 2100, 60 L.Ed.2d 668 (1979). Therefore, Carrillo must have a legitimate claim of entitlement to being released from prison on his supervised release date before his interest in being released on that date can qualify as a liberty interest. The Supreme Court has held that state law can create liberty interests that are protected by due process. Wolff, 418 U.S. at 557,94 S.Ct. 2963; Sandin, 515 U.S. at 483-84,115 S.Ct. 2293. In Wolff, the Court held that while the Due Process Clause itself does not create a liberty interest in credit for good behavior, the statutory provision adopted by the state of Nebraska created a liberty interest in a shortened prison sentence that resulted from good time credits. 418 U.S. at 557,94 S.Ct. 2963; see Neb.Rev.Stat. § 83-185 (1971). In Nebraska, good time credits were revocable only if the prisoner was found guilty of serious misconduct. Neb. Rev.Stat. § 83-185. In another case, the Court held that "the expectancy of release" provided in Nebraska's sentencing scheme was entitled to some measure of constitutional protection. Greenholtz, 442 U.S. at 12,99 S.Ct. 2100. The Court concluded that some measure of protection was due to inmates whose parole requests were denied under a discretionary parole statute that provided that an inmate "shall" be released when his minimum term of imprisonment less good time credits expired. Id. at 11-12, 99...