Opinion ID: 2392074
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: This Case and Accardi

Text: Requiring a showing of prejudice is necessary, especially in cases like the one at bar, where Patuxent was trying to comply with procedures and its staff committed mere technical mistakes in complying with a regulation that applied generally within the institution, and not just specifically to parole revocation or renewal hearings, thus departing in a minimal way from an internal directive relating, not to fundamental rights but to evidentiary matters. The regulatory violations petitioner alleges, were insubstantial and, moreover, resulted in no prejudice to petitioner. The Court of Special Appeals thoroughly addressed petitioner's complaints and properly held that the title, stated purpose, language and history of PID 110-18 indicate that PID 110-18 was intended as a guide to Patuxent in the orderly carrying out of its agency business and was not intended to protect fundamental rights. While we agree with the Court of Special Appeals that PID 110-18 does not confer important procedural benefits and safeguards upon individual parolees like petitioner, but rather serves to aid the orderly transaction of Patuxent business, under the rule we adopt here it would have made no difference in the result if it had. Both under the APA (that does not apply in this case) and the version of Accardi we now adopt for Maryland, prejudice to the complainant must, generally, be shown. Prejudice is a key. There was an insufficient showing of prejudice in the present case. Although a guard had written the wrong inmate number on the specimen paperwork, petitioner signed it and then wrote his correct inmate number on it. There was additional evidence that was sufficient to establish accurate and unambiguous identification of petitioner's specimen. Specifically, the laboratory results and the specimen itself were unambiguously identified by petitioner's name. Petitioner's name was unlike the name of either of the other six inmates whose specimens were sent for testing on the same day. Additionally, there was substantial evidence to support the Board's chain of custody finding. The use of the incorrect identification number on the form, when that number was listed on the document line directly above where petitioner affixed his signature to verify that he had given that particular specimen and hand wrote in his correct inmate number next to his signature, vitiates against a conclusion that he was prejudiced. In fact, as the Court of Special Appeals opined, there was little possibility of confusion of petitioner's specimen from the failure to maintain a technically proper chain of custody due to the fact that petitioner's name was unlike the others, petitioner signed his name under the incorrect number and wrote in, himself, his correct inmate number, and the testing company used only one number to test and attribute the specimen to petitioner. The evidence was sufficient to support the Board's finding that the positive specimen, while the paperwork was both incorrectly and correctly numbered, was petitioner's specimen, and that the chain of custody was never broken. Petitioner also claims that PID 110-18 was violated because PID 110-18 requires that the officer taking custody of the urine specimen secure a piece of Evidence Tape over the cap. The clear purpose of the evidence tape procedure is to secure the specimen from tampering. In the case sub judice, petitioner himself secured the evidence tape over his own sample. Thus, even though the officer did not technically comply with PID 110-18, i.e.. affix the tape himself, petitioner did. The procedure that required that the tape be affixed was still followed, albeit that petitioner sealed his own sample. It was sealed with tape, and thus protected, by petitioner. No prejudice resulted. We hold that the record reflects that there is sufficient evidence in the administrative record to support the Board's finding that the positive urine specimen was petitioner's specimen and because we hold that petitioner has not proven that he was prejudiced by Patuxent's staff's technical infractions, the Board's decision is, for the reasons stated herein, affirmed.