Justice Richard Lee Price
Inmate Frazier moved to vacate his parole warrant and releasing him from custody of New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) by habeas petitions. He claimed he was deprived of his right to a knowing and voluntary waiver of a preliminary hearing. The court previously dismissed the petitions, but upon review modified and amended same sustaining the petition under Index No. 251045-2013. DOCCS issued a Violation of Release Report (VRR) charging Frazier with violating his release conditions. Frazier decided to waive the preliminary hearing, and a Parole Officer drafted a waiver on a blank sheet, which he and Frazier both signed. DOCCS produced Frazier for the Final hearing and served him with a supplemental violation of release report (SVRR) charging him with additional violations. The court found, contrary to Frazier’s contention, the waiver was a writing clearly and unambiguously demonstrating Frazier’s desire to abandon his right to a preliminary hearing, thus was deemed valid, noting it would not reject an otherwise valid waiver merely because it was not made on a pre-printed form, especially where no such form existed. It ruled the waiver did not apply to the SVRR as the charges were materially different from those in the VRR.
