Weichert v. United States

458 F. Supp. 2d 57, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77621, 2006 WL 3018113
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. New York
DecidedOctober 24, 2006
Docket5:05-cr-00571
StatusPublished

This text of 458 F. Supp. 2d 57 (Weichert v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Weichert v. United States, 458 F. Supp. 2d 57, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77621, 2006 WL 3018113 (N.D.N.Y. 2006).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM-DECISION AND ORDER 1

HURD, District Judge.

I. Background

A. History

Timberline Energy Corp. (“Timberline Energy”) was a New York corporation in the business of manufacturing and distributing wood and coal burning stoves and related products. On April 13, 1981, Timberline Energy filed a petition in the United States Bankruptcy Court of the Northern District of New York for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. In July 1981, Robert M. Weichert (‘Weichert” or “petitioner”), who at the time was President and principal owner of Adirondack Wood Stove Works, Inc. (“Adirondack”), together with Ivan Preslar, then-President of Timberline Energy, announced that Weichert was assuming managerial control over Timberline Energy. Shortly thereafter, Weichert and Preslar agreed to form a new business entity named Timberline East, Inc. (“Timberline East”) in which Preslar was to be a silent partner. In August 1981, Weichert opened a checking account on behalf of Timberline East, and thereafter deposited numerous checks issued to Timberline Energy into the Timberline East checking account.

On September 10, 1981, the Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition filed by Timberline Energy was converted into one for liquidation under Chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code. Based upon that conversion, federal marshals padlocked the premises of Timberline Energy that same day.

The prosecution established at Weic-hert’s criminal trial that during the weeks immediately prior to the court-ordered shutdown of Timberline Energy, he and Preslar, fraudulently transferred large amounts of Timberline Energy’s raw materials, stoves, and office equipment from the bankruptcy estate. For example, the Government demonstrated that just before Timberline Energy’s petition was changed to one requiring its liquidation, petitioner directed the removal of large quantities of Timberline Energy’s inventory to Adirondack as well as to premises he owned. The evidence further established that after Timberline Energy’s liquidation had been ordered by the bankruptcy court, an employee of that company returned a check to the Agway corporation (“Agway”) which had been made payable to Timberline Energy and requested that Agway issue a new check in the same amount that was payable to Timberline East. Agway complied with the request and the check was deposited in Timberline East’s checking account.

On October 19, 1984, a grand jury for the Northern District of New York returned an indictment against Weichert, Preslar, and others in which Weichert was charged with engaging in a criminal conspiracy to conceal from the United States bankruptcy trustee the assets of Timberline Energy by improperly transferring its inventory, cash, and other property to Timberline East, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371. In that accusatory instrument, Weichert was also charged with four substantive counts of bankruptcy fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 152. See, e.g., *61 United States v. Prestar et al., 608 F.Supp. 986, 987 (N.D.N.Y.1985) (Munson, J.). On May 31, 1985, following a three-day jury trial, Weichert was convicted on all counts, and thereafter was sentenced to a total of eight years imprisonment, five of which was ordered suspended by the district court. His convictions and sentences were affirmed in all respects on appeal. United States v. Weichert, 783 F.2d 23 (2d Cir.1986).

Weichert thereafter filed a Motion to Vacate, Set Aside or Correct his Sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255. In his application, he argued that: (1) the indictment was defective; (2) he was the victim of prosecutorial misconduct; (3) the pre-sentence report prepared by the Probation Department of the Northern District of New York was erroneous; and (4) he received the ineffective assistance of trial counsel. In a Memorandum-Decision and Order dated August 19, 1987, United States District Judge Lloyd F. MacMahon of the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation in the Northern District, denied the § 2255 application in all respects. See United States v. Weichert, 668 F.Supp. 125 (N.D.N.Y.1987). Although he did not appeal the order denying his Motion to Vacate, e.g., United States v. Weichert, 836 F.2d 769, 771 n. 2 (2d Cir.1988), the petitioner eventually succeeded in reducing the amount of restitution he was required to pay as a result of his criminal conduct from $200,000.00 to $155,956.64 through an action he commenced pursuant to Rules 32 and 35 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. See United States v. Weichert, 89 B.R. 346, 351 (N.D.N.Y.), aff'd, 862 F.2d 305 (2d Cir.1988).

B. Present Application

On May 12, 2005, Weichert filed this application for a writ of error coram nobis in this District. See Dkt. No. 1. In that submission, he argues that his 1985 conviction must be set aside because his conviction was purportedly obtained as a result of perjurious testimony provided by the bankruptcy trustee at the criminal trial. See Affidavit of Robert M. Weichert in Support of Coram Nobis Application (5/11/05) (attachment to Dkt. No. 1) (“May, 2005 Aff.”) at pp. 1-9. After filing his coram nobis application and attachments thereto, petitioner filed several additional submissions in further support of that application for relief. See Dkt. Nos. 8, 13, and 14.

On December 27, 2005, respondent filed a memorandum of law in opposition. Dkt. No. 15.

II. Discussion

A. Scope of Coram Nobis Relief

“Coram nobis is an ‘extraordinary remedy 1 authorized under the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a), generally sought to review a criminal conviction where a motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 is unavailable because petitioner is no longer serving a sentence.” Porcelli v. United States, 404 F.3d 157, 158 (2d Cir.2005) (quoting United States v. Morgan, 346 U.S. 502, 511, 74 S.Ct. 247, 98 L.Ed. 248 (1954)).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Morgan
346 U.S. 502 (Supreme Court, 1954)
Brady v. Maryland
373 U.S. 83 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Harris v. Nelson
394 U.S. 286 (Supreme Court, 1969)
Davis v. United States
417 U.S. 333 (Supreme Court, 1974)
United States v. Bagley
473 U.S. 667 (Supreme Court, 1985)
United States v. Mechanik
475 U.S. 66 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Chambers v. Nasco, Inc.
501 U.S. 32 (Supreme Court, 1991)
United States v. Dunnigan
507 U.S. 87 (Supreme Court, 1993)
United States v. James Vincent Keogh
391 F.2d 138 (Second Circuit, 1968)
United States v. John White
972 F.2d 16 (Second Circuit, 1992)
Paul J. Foont v. United States
93 F.3d 76 (Second Circuit, 1996)
Woodrow Fleming v. United States
146 F.3d 88 (Second Circuit, 1998)
United States v. John C. Mandanici, Jr.
205 F.3d 519 (Second Circuit, 2000)
Oscar Porcelli v. United States
404 F.3d 157 (Second Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Weichert
668 F. Supp. 125 (N.D. New York, 1987)
United States v. Preslar
608 F. Supp. 986 (N.D. New York, 1985)
United States v. Weichert
89 B.R. 346 (S.D. New York, 1988)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
458 F. Supp. 2d 57, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77621, 2006 WL 3018113, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/weichert-v-united-states-nynd-2006.