Plany v. United States

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedJuly 30, 2020
Docket2:19-cv-00370
StatusUnknown

This text of Plany v. United States (Plany v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Plany v. United States, (D. Ariz. 2020).

Opinion

1 2 3 NOT FOR PUBLICATION 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

9 Joseph John Plany, No. CV-19-00370-PHX-SRB CR-12-01606-02-PHX-SRB 10 Petitioner, ORDER

11 v.

12 United States of America,

13 Respondent. 14 15 The Court now considers Petitioner Joseph John Plany (“Petitioner”)’s Motion 16 Under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Sentence by a Person in Federal 17 Custody (“Motion”) (Doc. 1, Mot.). The matter was referred to Magistrate Judge Deborah 18 M. Fine for a Report and Recommendation (“R&R”). (Doc. 16, R. & R.) 19 I. BACKGROUND 20 A. Factual Background 21 The factual background of this case was summarized in the R&R and is incorporated 22 herein: 23 I. INDICTMENT 24 On September 11, 2012, [Petitioner] was indicted along with co-Defendant Paxton Jeffrey Anderson (“Anderson”) on 25 thirty-one counts of bank fraud pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1344, and one count of conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 1349. As 26 asserted in the indictment, [Petitioner] was employed during the period relevant to the charges by Dynamite Custom Homes 27 (“Dynamite”) and subsequently by J.R. Custom Homes. Co- Defendant Anderson was the owner of Dynamite and worked 28 as a home builder through Dynamite and then through J.R. Custom Homes. The charges centered on allegations of bank 1 fraud in that Defendants “devised a scheme to purchase real properties that misrepresented both material information in a 2 uniform residential loan application” and required supporting documentation such as the applicant’s “assets, income, 3 liabilities, sources of intended down-payment, and intent to occupy the improved property as a primary residence.” The 4 indictment further described the scheme as including falsifying invoices, misrepresenting to lenders that work had been 5 completed, and forging construction draw requests in order to obtain funds from the lenders. 6 The conspiracy charge asserted that [Petitioner], 7 Anderson, and others “conspired, confederated and agreed with each other” to commit bank fraud “by engaging in an 8 ongoing conspiracy to obtain real estate based on loan applications misrepresenting material information to the lender 9 and misrepresenting that draw requests were used for construction expenses when in fact the draws were used for 10 personal expenses of Anderson.” The indictment alleged that the conspiracy would be accomplished by Anderson recruiting 11 his family members, friends and others as “straw buyers” of construction loans with the purpose of obtaining draw requests 12 from the lender. As part of the conspiracy, the indictment further alleged that Anderson and [Petitioner] “copied and 13 pasted signatures from one document to another in order to qualify buyers for loans or directed others to do so.” The 14 indictment also alleged that Anderson deposited money into prospective borrowers’ accounts to make it appear [as though] 15 the borrowers had adequate assets to qualify for loans, and also gave the borrowers money for down payments, knowing it was 16 being misrepresented to the lender that such payments were being made by the borrower. The indictment alleged that 17 [Petitioner] falsified draw requests and also assisted borrowers by “falsely inflating borrower’s bank accounts.” 18 II. SUMMARY OF COURT PROCEEDINGS 19 On May 8, 2014, the case went to trial before a jury. At 20 the close of the Government’s case and on motion by the Government, the court dismissed with prejudice four bank 21 fraud counts for lack of sufficient evidence. After a 13-day trial, on June 4, 2014, the jury found [Petitioner] guilty on 23 22 counts of bank fraud and on the conspiracy count. 23 On May 18, 2015, the Court sentenced [Petitioner] to 48 months of imprisonment to be followed by 5 years of 24 supervised release. [Petitioner] and Anderson were ordered to jointly and severally pay restitution in the amount of 25 $2,909,017.46. 26 Through appointed counsel, [Petitioner] filed a notice of appeal with the Ninth Circuit on August 25, 2015. [Petitioner] 27 and Anderson appealed the Court’s order denying their motion for acquittal and alternative motion for a new trial. In an 28 unpublished memorandum opinion filed on October 10, 2017, the Ninth Circuit held there was not sufficient evidence to 1 support Count 1 in the indictment for bank fraud because “the evidence was insufficient to allow any rational juror to find, 2 beyond a reasonable doubt, that M&I Bank was the lender for Count One.” [Petitioner] had been acquitted on Count 1, and 3 the Ninth Circuit’s decision reversed Anderson’s conviction on Count 1. However, the Ninth Circuit held there was “sufficient 4 evidence to allow reasonable jurors to find that M&I Bank and TierOne were FDIC-insured institutions and were the lenders 5 on the remaining counts.” Among other holdings, the Ninth Circuit held that the conspiracy count in the indictment was not 6 duplicitous, the Court did not err by “failing to give a specific unanimity instruction sua sponte” or by failing to reduce 7 [Petitioner]’s sentence, or in its restitution order. 8 At trial, [Petitioner] was represented by retained counsel Thomas Hoidal. On appeal, [Petitioner] was 9 represented by Michael J. Bresnehan. Counsel Anders V. Rosenquist represents [Petitioner] in these habeas proceedings. 10 III. [PETITIONER]’S HABEAS GROUNDS 11 [Petitioner] asserts three grounds for relief. In Ground 12 One, [Petitioner] claims his trial counsel’s performance was deficient because counsel failed to recognize early on in the 13 case that [Petitioner] was not a “major participant” in the crimes alleged and failed to approach the prosecutor to 14 negotiate a cooperating witness agreement. 15 [In] Ground Two[,] [Petitioner] claim[s] . . . that his due process rights were violated . . . when counsel agreed to a joint 16 defense with co-defendant Anderson under which [Petitioner] agreed not to testify. 17 In Ground Three, [Petitioner] complains the Court 18 lacked jurisdiction on several counts charged in his case because FDIC insurance for M&I Bank did not extend to M&I 19 Mortgage Company, and “[m]any of the financial transactions supporting the charges in this case were made by M&I 20 Mortgage Company, not M&I Bank.” 21 (R. & R. at 2–4 (record citations omitted).) 22 B. Procedural Background 23 Petitioner filed the instant Motion on January 24, 2019. (Mot.) Respondent United 24 States of America filed its Response on May 20. (Doc. 7, Resp. to Mot.) The Magistrate 25 Judge issued her R&R on April 17, 2020, recommending that the Court: (1) deny 26 Petitioner’s Motion without an evidentiary hearing, and (2) deny a certificate of 27 appealability because Petitioner failed to make a substantial showing of the denial of a 28 constitutional right. (R. & R. at 20–21.) Petitioner timely filed his Objections on May 1. 1 (Doc. 17, Obj. to R. & R. (“Obj.”).) 2 II. LEGAL STANDARD 3 A federal prisoner may seek relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 if his sentence was 4 “imposed in violation of the United States Constitution or the laws of the United States, . . 5 . was in excess of the maximum authorized by law, or is otherwise subject to collateral 6 attack.” 28 U.S.C. § 2255(a). When a prisoner moves for post-conviction relief, the court 7 “may accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the findings or recommendations made 8 by the magistrate.” 28 U.S.C.

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Bluebook (online)
Plany v. United States, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/plany-v-united-states-azd-2020.