Justice Alice Schlesinger
Samper commenced this Article 78 action relating to his Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request seeking records relating to his criminal conviction. He alleged that Valdez, a purported witness in the case, was potentially incarcerated at the time of events in question, thus could not have witnessed Samper committing a crime. Samper sought documents of Valdez’s incarceration. Department of Corrections (DOC) asserted it was unable to locate files relating to Valdez’s incarceration during the relevant time. Records Access Officer Lugo indicated Valdez was incarcerated after the July 1990 date Samper provided. An additional record reflected Valdez was also incarcerated and discharged on a date one month before the date in question. Lugo provided two confidential interagency memos confirming that diligent and thorough searches were conducted for inmate legal files of the subject dates. The court found as DOC certified it made repeated diligent searches for the requested records and was unable to locate anything corresponding to the July 1990 date of interest or the actual files, DOC satisfied the FOIL requirements, and the petition must be denied.
