by peter e. bortner
A three-judge state Superior Court panel has upheld the conviction and state prison sentence of a Mahanoy City man who participated in a robbery in 2008 in Shenandoah.
In a 22-page opinion filed Wednesday in Pottsville, the panel ruled Joseph A. Yutko, 30, presented no facts that would justify awarding him a new trial.
"We find no relief is due," Senior Judge James J. Fitzgerald III wrote in the opinion.
As a result, Yutko must serve five to 10 years in a state correctional institution plus an additional five years on probation, the sentence imposed on Jan. 20, 2010, by Judge Jacqueline L. Russell. Yutko is serving his sentence at SCI/Retreat, Luzerne County.
After a two-day trial presided over by Russell, a jury of eight women and four men found Yutko guilty on Dec. 10, 2009, of two counts of robbery and one of conspiracy.
Shenandoah police had charged Yutko with helping to rob two men on Oct. 29, 2008, at 117 E. Centre St. in the borough.
Prosecutors said three armed men, including Yutko, entered the home, cut phone cords and took a computer, while a fourth, Raymond Iaconelli, drove the getaway car. Iaconelli testified at Yutko's trial.
In his opinion, Fitzgerald wrote that the fact that former Shenandoah police Chief Matthew R. Nestor, who testified at Yutko's trial, was later convicted in U.S. District Court in Wilkes-Barre of falsifying a police report in connection with the investigation of the death of Luis Eduardo Ramirez Zavala does not mandate reversal of Yutko's conviction. Yutko failed to present and prove sufficient evidence to support his claim, Fitzgerald wrote.
As for the rest of Yutko's arguments, each regards an assertion that his lawyer at trial, Assistant Public Defender Kent D. Watkins, was ineffective, and Fitzgerald ruled that the defendant did not prove any of the allegations.
Those allegation included claims that Watkins did not include Yutko in the jury selection process; failed to ask that the entire pool of jurors be struck for alleged prejudice; did not meet with him or properly prepare his defense before trial; did not ask for admission into evidence of Iaconelli's statement to police, which might have been helpful; insufficiently cross-examined victim David Brown; should have asked to have a camouflage jacket admitted as a defense exhibit; failed to call his girlfriend, Heather Rutledge, as a witness; failed to object to a statement in the closing argument of Assistant District Attorney Michael A. O'Pake; neglected to call a possibly exculpatory witness, West Mahanoy Township police Officer Ray Tonkinson; and failed to object to admission of a driver's license into evidence.
In each case, Fitzgerald wrote, the panel concluded that Yutko failed to prove that Watkins' action or inaction affected the outcome of the trial.
Judges Susan Peikes Gantman and Sallie Updyke Mundy, the other members of the panel, concurred in Fitzgerald's opinion.Defendant: Joseph A. Yutko
Age: 30
Residence: Mahanoy City
Crimes committed: Two counts of robbery and one of conspiracy
Prison sentence: Five to 10 years in a state correctional institution, plus five consecutive years probation
