Boretsky v. Ricci

• Decision Date: 29 February 2012
• Docket Number: Civil No. 09-0771 (FLW)
• Parties: BORIS BORETSKY, Petitioner, v. MICHELLE R. RICCI, et al., Respondents.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

BORIS BORETSKY, Petitioner, v.MICHELLE R. RICCI, et al., Respondents.

Civil No. 09-0771 (FLW)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY

Dated: February 29, 2012

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

Hon. Freda L. Wolfson

OPINION

APPEARANCES:

BORIS BORETSKY, #946903A

New Jersey State Prison

PetitionerProSe

NANCY A. HULETT, Assistant Prosecutor

BRUCE J. KAPLAN, MIDDLESEX COUNTY PROSECUTOR

Attorneys for Respondents

WOLFSON, District Judge:

Boris Boretsky filed a Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, challenging a judgment of conviction entered in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Middlesex County, on April 7, 2006, after a jury found him guilty of the first-degree murder of his wife Saoule Moukhametova("Lana"), felony murder, aggravated assault, burglary, terroristic threats, and other related crimes.Respondents filed an Answer arguing that the Petition should be dismissed as unexhausted and on the merits.Petitioner filed a Reply.

Petitioner thereafter filed a motion to amend the Petition to add the ineffective assistance of counsel claims presented in his first state petition for post-conviction relief filed in the New Jersey Superior Court on April 18, 2011, and to stay the § 2254 Petition.The State filed opposition, arguing that Petitioner has not shown grounds warranting equitable tolling, and Petitioner filed a response.For the reasons expressed below, this Court will deny Petitioner's motion to amend and for a stay, dismiss the Petition on the merits, and deny a certificate of appealability.¹

I.BACKGROUND

On April 7, 2006, after a jury sitting in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Middlesex County, Law Division, found Petitioner guilty of all charges, Superior Court Judge James F. Mulvihill sentenced Petitioner to a term of life imprisonment without parole and a consecutive 23.5 year term.²Petitioner appealed.In an opinion filed August 28, 2008, the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, affirmed the conviction and sentence.SeeState v. Boretsky,2008 WL 4057972(N.J. Super. Ct., App. Div., Aug. 28, 2008).The New Jersey Supreme Court denied certification on November 14, 2008.³SeeState v. Boretsky, 197 N.J. 14(2008)(table).

The Appellate Division summarized the facts as follows:

The State's proofs initially focused upon the January 19, 2002, incident that had engendered the TRO [under the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act], in which defendant, in the presence of others, had struck Lana, causing many bruises, a three-centimeter vertical laceration above her left eyebrow, and a broken nose.In the course of the altercation, defendant had also struck Lana's stepsister.

On January 31, 2002, the TRO was converted into a consent order continuing the restraint against personal contact and granting Lana exclusive possession of the marital home . . . .The events established in the proofs included defendant's March 1, 2002, visit to Lana's attorney at her office with angry demands for a resolution of the matter more favorable to him than the then-pending arrangement.

Two days later, in the evening of March 3, defendant visited the marital home.At one point during the visit, defendant spoke by telephone with a friend, reporting that Lana was dead.In response to the friend's question why he had violated the restraining order, defendant said that Lana had called him and invited him over to talk.Defendant related that they had argued and that Lana had grabbed a knife and threatened to kill either herself or defendant and "now she's dead."There was no mention of suicide, which defendant later asserted to the police and continued to invoke through trial.The cause of death was a knife wound above the right breast, near the armpit.

Boretsky, 2008 WL 4057972 at **3-4.

On February 10, 2009, Petitioner executed the § 2254 Petition before this Court.The Clerk docketed it on February 17, 2009.After this Court notified Petitioner of his rights pursuant to Mason v. Myers, 208 F. 3d 414(3d Cir.2000), Petitioner elected to proceed with the Petition.⁴The Petition presents the following grounds, which mimic the grounds raised on direct appeal:

Ground One: MY5TH AND 6TH AMENDMENT RIGHTS WERE VIOLATED BY THE ADMISSION OF STATEMENTS INITIATED BY POLICE AFTER I ASKED THEM TO SPEAK TO MY ATTORNEY AND, INSTEAD THEY DISCONNECTED MY TELEPHONE CALL TO HIM.

Ground Two: THE TRIAL COURT'S INSTRUCTION THAT JURY COULD CONSIDER EVIDENCE THAT DEFENDANT PREVIOUSLY ASSAULTED AND THREATENED HIS WIFE AS PROOF THAT HE WAS GUILTY OF MURDER DEPRIVED DEFENDANT OF HIS RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL.

Ground Three: THE MEDICAL EXAMINER'S TESTIMONY THAT THE CAUSE OF DEATH WAS "HOMICIDE" EXCEEDED THE SCOPE OF PERMISSIBLE EXPERT TESTIMONY AND IMPROPERLY ADDRESSED THE ULTIMATE ISSUE BEFORE THE JURY, THEREBY DEPRIVING DEFENDANT OF A FAIR TRIAL AND REQUIRING THE REVERSAL OF HIS CONVICTION.Ground Four: THE COURT COMMITTED REVERSIBLE ERROR IN ITS REFUSAL TO SEVER THE COUNTS CHARGING CONTEMPT FOR VIOLATION OF A RESTRAINING ORDER.

Ground Five: BECAUSE THE STATE FAILED TO PROVE THE ELEMENTS OF TERRORISTIC THREATS BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, THE TRIAL JUDGE ERRED IN DENYING DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR A JUDGMENT OF ACQUITTAL ON COUNT TWO.

Ground Six: DEFENDANT'S BURGLARY AND FELONY MURDER CONVICTIONS MUST BE REVERSED BECAUSE THE TRIAL COURT FAILED TO INFORM THE JURY THAT VIOLATION OF A DOMESTIC VIOLENCE RESTRAINING ORDER DOES NOT SATISFY THE REQUIREMENTS OF A "PURPOSE TO COMMIT AN OFFENSE THEREIN."

Ground Seven: DURING THE TRIAL AND SUMMATION, THE PROSECUTOR COMMITTED SEVERAL ACTS OF MISCONDUCT WHICH VIOLATED DEFENDANT'S DUE PROCESS RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL, THE AMENDMENT XIV OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION.

Ground Eight: THE TRIAL COURT COMMITTED REVERSIBLE ERROR BY ALLOWING THE JURY TO CONSIDER THAT THE DEFENDANT CAUSED SERIOUS BODILY INJURIES, OR CAUSED SIGNIFICANT BODILY INJURIES.THE JURY'S CONSIDERATION SHOULD HAVE BEEN LIMITED TO ATTEMPT TO CAUSE SERIOUS OR SIGNIFICANT BODILY INJURY ONLY.

Ground Nine: THE TRIAL JUDGE ABUSED HIS DISCRETION BY ALLOWING THE STATE TO DISPLAY TO THE JURY PICTURES DEPICTING INJURIES SUSTAINED BY SAOULE MOUKHAMETOVA ON THE NIGHT OF JANUARY19, 2002 WHERE THE LEAST POSSIBLE INFLAMMATORY EVIDENCE TO PROVE THIS POINT WAS AVAILABLE THROUGH THE TESTIMONY OF DR. GARIBALDI AND OFFICER DROST.THUS, DEFENDANT WAS UNDULY PREJUDICED THEREBY AND WAS DENIED HIS CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL.

Ground Ten: THE ADMISSION OF HEARSAY TESTIMONY UNDER THE "EXCITED UTTERANCE" EXCEPTION PROVIDED AT TRIAL BY MARINA MIROSHNICHENKO AS TO ALLEGED STATEMENTS MADE TO HER BY SAOULE MOUKHAMETOVA, AND THE DECISION BY THE TRIAL

COURT IN A PRE-TRIAL HEARING TO PERMIT THIS HEARSAY WERE VIOLATIVE OF ESTABLISHED LEGAL PRINCIPLES AND CASE LAW, AND THUS CONSTITUTED A GROSS ABUSE OF JUDICIAL DISCRETION CLEARLY CAPABLE OF PRODUCING AN UNJUST RESULT, AND DENIED DEFENDANT DUE PROCESS AND A FAIR TRIAL.

Ground Eleven: THE IMPROPER INTRODUCTION (AGAINST TIMELY OBJECTION) OF DOUBLE-HEARSAY (OR HEARSAY WITHIN HEARSAY) DURING THE CROSS-EXAMINATION OF DR.UTKIWICZ VIOLATED N.J.R.E. 802, 703(7), 404(b), AND 403, AS WELL AS VIOLATING DEFENDANT'S RIGHT TO CONFRONT HIS ACCUSER, THUS DEPRIVING HIM OF HIS RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL.

Ground Twelve: THE TRIAL COURT VIOLATED DEFENDANT'S RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL BY PERMITTING INTO EVIDENCE THE TESTIMONIAL HEARSAY STATEMENTS OF SAOULE MOUKHAMETOVA TO JUDGE MARY CASEY IN DIRECT VIOLATION OF THE CONFRONTATION CLAUSE OF THE6TH AMENDMENT OF THE UNTIED STATES CONSTITUTION . . . , AS WELL AS DENYING THE DEFENDANT THE EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL AND THE DUE PROCESS CLAUSE OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION.

Ground Thirteen: THE ALLOWING OF E.M.S. TECHNICIAN LEMMERLING, A GOVERNMENT OFFICER, TO TESTIFY CONCERNING A HEARSAY TESTIMONIAL STATEMENT MADE TO HIM BY SAOULE MOUKHAMETOVA WAS IN VIOLATION OF THE CONFRONTATION CLAUSE . . . , AND THE RIGHT TO EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL.

Ground Fourteen: DURING JURY SUMMATION, THE TRIAL JUDGE GAVE THE JURY INCORRECT (AS A MATTER OF LAW) INSTRUCTION AS TO HOW TO WEIGH THE EVIDENCE, RELIEVING THE PROSECUTOR FROM ITS BURDEN OF PROVING ITS CASE BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT.

(Pet. ¶ 12, Grounds One to Fourteen)(Dkt. 1at 5-12.)

II.MOTION TO AMEND PETITION AND FOR STAY

On April 28, 2011, Boretsky filed a motion to stay the Petition while he pursued his first state petition for post-conviction relief, which he claims was filed on March 8, 2011.(Dkt. 21-1.)On August 15, 2011, this Court denied the motion without prejudice to the filing of a properly supported motion to amend the Petition.This Court's Opinion noted that, because Boretsky's § 2254 Petition does not include the ineffective assistance of counsel claims, a stay would be of no use to Boretsky unless he first amended his § 2254Petition to include the ineffective assistance of counsel claims.Moreover, since the one-year statute of limitations, see28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1)(A), expired on February 15, 2010, in the absence of equitable tolling, the Petition could not be amended because the new claims would be time barred.⁵See28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1)(A).(Dkt. 22.)This Court denied the motion for stay without prejudice to the filing of a motion to amend in which Boretsky showed that equitable tolling of the statute of limitations was warranted from February 15, 2010, until the date on which Boretsky presumably "properly filed" his state petition for post-conviction relief, insofar as statutory tolling would kick in on that date, if the state petition were properly filed.See28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(2)("The time during which a properly filed application for State post-conviction or other collateral review with respect to the pertinent judgment or claim is pending shall not be counted toward any period of limitation under this subsection");Allen v. Siebert, 552 U.S. 3(2007)(petition for state post-conviction relief that was rejected by the state courts as untimely is not "properly filed" under § 2244(d)(2));Artuz v. Bennett, 531 U.S. 4, 8(2000)(petition...