Romansky v. Folino, CIVIL NO. 1:CV-09-01472

Decision Date01 March 2017
Docket NumberCIVIL NO. 1:CV-09-01472
PartiesSTEVEN L. ROMANSKY, Petitioner v. LOUIS S. FOLINO, et al., Respondents
CourtU.S. District Court — Middle District of Pennsylvania

(Judge Rambo)

MEMORANDUM

Presently before the court is a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, as amended on April 15, 2016, filed by Petitioner Steven Romansky, a state inmate currently incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Greene, in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. (Doc. 63.) In the petition, Petitioner challenges his 1987 and 2000 convictions and sentences in the Court of Common Pleas in Pike County, Pennsylvania ("trial court" or "Pike County court"). For the reasons that follow, the habeas petition will be denied.

I. Background

The underlying facts relating to Petitioner's convictions are as follows, as summarized in the Grand Jury Presentment related to his case:

Pursuant to the submission of Notice No. 7, this Investigating Grand Jury began hearing evidence relative to stolen motor vehicles and insurance fraud throughout Pennsylvania. Through education, experience, informant information and eye witness statements, the Office of Attorney General, Bureau of Criminal Investigation (OAG/BCI) and the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) have learned that groups of individuals have been working together as an enterprise and engaging in racketeering activities to steal and dispose of various types of motor vehicles. This specific investigation has revealed that a group of individuals is operating in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. They have been obtaining wrecked or other low cost vehicles in order to acquire vehicle identification number (VIN) plates and titles. They would attach these VIN plates to the fraudulently obtained vehicles and, to the extent necessary, would alter or deface other identification numbers located on the vehicle frames so as to avoid any trace of the original vehicle. These individuals were also engaged in stealing various motor vehicles and dismantling them in order to sell the part[s] or to reassemble other vehicles.

* * *

Special Agent [Russell] Thomas [of the Office of Attorney General] received information that [Petitioner] had possession of a stolen green and white Ford Bronco. After checking official Pennsylvania Department of Transportation records, it was determined that the purported 1979 Ford 4-wheel drive Bronco (vehicle number 27) was using a VIN for a 1974 Ford Pinto wagon. The title records revealed that [Petitioner] had been issued a special state replacement vehicle identification number plate for this vehicle based upon title work submitted to the department. Pennsylvania State Police troopers observed this vehicle which obviously appeared to be a Bronco rather than a Pinto station wagon. Based upon this information, a search warrant was obtained and the vehicle was seized at [Petitioner]'s residence on August 28, 1984 in Sterling, Pike County, Pennsylvania. An examination revealed that this Ford Bronco was reported stolen January 7, 1981 in Mount Pocono, Monroe County, Pennsylvania. Further investigation revealed that the Pinto VIN came from a vehicle given to Thomas Smithers, former owner of the Happy Hooker garage, Mount Pocono, Monroe County, Pennsylvania. Thomas Smithers is a part-time police officer in Mount Pocono, Barrett Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania. Records show that this vehicle had beeninspected at Smithers' garage when the Pinto VIN was on the Bronco. Furthermore, the investigators learned through other investigation that Smithers suspected that the vehicle was stolen when it was inspected.
On August 28, 1984, while serving the search warrant at [Petitioner]'s address, the Pennsylvania State Police observed a blue Pontiac Firebird having a vehicle identification number 2U87T2N527826 (vehicle number 28). They also noted that the vehicle had a special, hatch-type roof. Pennsylvania Department of Transportation records showed that the vehicle belonged to Frances Romansky. It was listed in the records as a 1972 Pontiac. On September 1, 1984, Officer David Swiderski, Mount Pocono Police Department, seized this Pontiac from Otto Stranak. Stranak told his Grand Jury on February 4, 1985 that [Petitioner] had loaned him this car sometime in August of 1984. Stranak had driven this car to Smithers' Mount Pocono garage where Smithers told him that the car was "hot" and to get off his property because the police were watching him. The Mount Pocono Police seized this car from Stranak three days later. An examination of the car by the police revealed that the vehicle was a 1977 Pontiac TransAm that had been reported stolen in Mount Pocono on September 27, 1983. Officer Swiderski locked this vehicle in the Mount Pocono police garage. Later that evening, the garage was broken into and the vehicle was stolen.
Frances Romansky appeared before this Grand Jury on February 4, 1985 and stated that she was the owner of this Pontiac, that it was a 1972 Pontiac, and that she had purchased it from a dealer in 1973.

* * *

As a further result of the examination of the inspection records of Smithers, it was determined that [Petitioner] had a truck inspected on October 1, 1982 that was identified as a 1978 Chevrolet, vehicle identification number K1546T136444. The records also showed that a year prior to that time, the truck had been inspected but was listed then as a 1979 model. Trooper Novatnak interviewed Smithers on October 4,1984. Smithers admitted that he knew that this truck was probably stolen. The investigators contacted Special Agent Fuller who traced the VIN and told them that the VIN was for a 1966 Chevrolet truck (vehicle number 36). The vehicle was seized pursuant to a search warrant on October 5, 1984 at [Petitioner]'s residence in Pike County. On October 11, 1984, the truck was examined and it was determined that it was not a Chevrolet truck, but a 1977 GMC truck that had been reported stolen [on] April 28, 1981 from Mount Pocono, Barrett Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania.

(Doc. 71-14 at 3; 16-18, Ex. N, Grand Jury Presentment.)

The remaining procedural history, referred to as a "procedural quagmire" by the state courts, is collected from the briefs and state court record filed in the case. Following grand jury proceedings, on August 27, 1985, Petitioner was charged in Pike County, Pennsylvania with three (3) counts of receiving stolen property, see 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 3925; three (3) counts of dealing of removal/falsification of identification numbers, see 75 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 7102; three (3) counts of dealing in vehicles with incorrect identification numbers, see 75 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 7103; three (3) counts of dealing in titles/plates for stolen vehicles, see 75 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 7111; two (2) counts of false application for certificate of title/registration, see 75 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 7121; and criminal conspiracy, see 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 903. These charges related to a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am ("1977 Pontiac"), a 1979 Ford Bronco ("1979 Bronco"), and a 1977 GMC truck ("1977 GMC").

On February 15, 1986, Petitioner was charged in Wayne County, Pennsylvania with arson and related offenses pertaining to the 1979 Bronco that had been seized bypolice pursuant to the Pike County investigation. On September 17, 1986, Petitioner was convicted of these charges in Wayne County and sentenced on February 10, 1987 to a term of imprisonment of four (4) to ten (10) years.

On April 3, 1986, Petitioner was arrested in Monroe County, Pennsylvania for arson involving a lumber yard. On November 10, 1986, Petitioner was convicted in Monroe County and sentenced on March 26, 1987 to a term of imprisonment of three (3) to six (6) years.

After being convicted and sentenced in Wayne and Monroe Counties, on May 6, 1987, Petitioner was convicted following a jury trial in Pike County of receiving stolen property, removal/falsification of identification numbers, and dealing in vehicles with incorrect identification numbers for the offenses related to the 1977 Pontiac. Petitioner was also convicted of receiving stolen property, removal/falsification of identification numbers, dealing in vehicles with incorrect identification numbers, dealing in titles/plates for stolen vehicles, and false application for certificate of title/registration for the offenses related to the 1979 Bronco. He was also convicted of conspiracy. He was found not guilty of dealing in titles/plates for stolen vehicles for the 1977 Pontiac and all offenses charged relating to the 1977 GMC.

On December 17, 1987, Petitioner was sentenced in Pike County to a term of imprisonment of nine (9) to eighteen (18) years incarceration. This sentence includeda two (2) to four (4) years term of incarceration on the conspiracy conviction, and the entire sentence was directed to run consecutively to Petitioner's convictions in Wayne and Monroe Counties. It is the Pike County conviction and sentence that is the subject of these habeas corpus proceedings.

Petitioner filed a timely notice of appeal from the Pike County conviction. On July 22, 1988, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania affirmed the conviction. Commonwealth v. Romansky, 548 A.2d 693 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1988). Petitioner did not seek allowance of appeal in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania or a writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court. Thus, Petitioner's judgment of sentence became final on August 22, 1988.1

On December 21, 1990, Petitioner filed an untimely pro se petition for post-conviction relief under Pennsylvania's Post-Conviction Relief Act ("PCRA"), 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. §§ 9541 et seq., alleging ineffective assistance of trial and appellate counsel. On July 13 and 31, 1992, Petitioner filed pro se amended petitions. On May 3, 1994, a counseled amended PCRA petition was filed on behalf of Petitioner by James P. Albrecht, Esquire. Thereafter, on June 5, 1994, PCRA relief was denied, but Petitione...

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