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Hollingsworth v. DuBois, 94-2272 (1996)

Court: Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Number: 94-2272 Visitors: 3
Filed: Apr. 02, 1996
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: LARRY E. DUBOIS, ETC., ET AL.James Hollingsworth on brief pro se., ___________________, Nancy Ankers White, Special Assistant Attorney General and, ____________________, Charles M. Wyzanski, Senior Litigation Counsel, on Motion for Summary, ___________________, Disposition for appellees.
USCA1 Opinion












April 2, 1996 [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

____________________


No. 94-2272

JAMES HOLLINGSWORTH,

Plaintiff, Appellant,

v.

LARRY E. DUBOIS, ETC., ET AL.,

Defendants, Appellees.


____________________

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS

[Hon. William G. Young, U.S. District Judge] ___________________

____________________

Before

Torruella, Chief Judge, ___________
Boudin and Stahl, Circuit Judges. ______________

____________________

James Hollingsworth on brief pro se. ___________________
Nancy Ankers White, Special Assistant Attorney General and ____________________
Charles M. Wyzanski, Senior Litigation Counsel, on Motion for Summary ___________________
Disposition for appellees.


____________________


____________________
















Per Curiam. Plaintiff/appellant James Hollingsworth ___________

appeals the entry of judgment in favor of

defendants/appellees on Hollingsworth's suit pursuant to 42

U.S.C. 1983. Having reviewed carefully the record in this

case, including the briefs of the parties, we summarily

affirm.

Hollingsworth suffered no deprivation of his rights to

procedural due process either when the hearing officer denied

his request to call witnesses at his disciplinary hearing or

when he discounted the affidavits Hollingsworth was allowed

to submit. A denial of a request to present witnesses is not

a due process violation when it is based on the need of

institutional safety. See Ponte v. Real, 471 U.S. 491, 497 ___ _____ ____

(1985). Here, the district court credited the testimony of

the hearing officer that, even if Hollingsworth had made a

timely request to present witnesses, the request would have

been denied because of safety concerns in transporting the

witnesses from another prison. As to the second claim, the

hearing officer had sufficient support in the record for

finding two of the affidavits not exculpatory and for

questioning the credibility of the others.

Furthermore, the district court did not err either in

refusing Hollingsworth's request to present witnesses at

trial or in not allowing him to introduce allegedly newly

found exculpatory evidence. The district court supportably



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found that the witnesses' testimony was not relevant to any

issue before the court. Similarly, inasmuch as Hollingsworth

does not claim that the hearing officer lacked sufficient

evidence to support a finding of guilty, the "newly found

evidence" was irrelevant to Hollingsworth's due process

claims. Moreover, this evidence, which was cumulative of

what had already been presented at the disciplinary hearing,

does nothing to call the hearing officer's determination of

guilt into question.

Affirmed. See 1st Cir. Loc. R. 27.1. ________ ___

































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Source:  CourtListener

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