Now, attorneys for the former standout teacher hope a new set of anonymous letters will help clear her name.

Romanyszyn, 46, was found guilty in June of multiple counts of making terroristic threats against Longstreth Elementary School, where she taught fourth grade.

The evidence weighed by a Bucks County jury included a series of threatening notes about death, bombs and other violence scrawled on walls and papers found scattered around the Warminster school.

Since that verdict, however, two handwritten, anonymous notes - purporting to be from students claiming responsibility - have made their way to the Longstreth office and to the Doylestown office of Romanyszyn's trial attorney, Sara Webster.

"we where tired of getting yelled at all the time," the note sent to Webster said in part. " . . . we didn't think they would think a teacher would do it. we are so sorry to Miss Romonison she should not be in trouble for something we did. we won't do it no more."

A third note, this one typed and photocopied, was sent to Bucks County Court Judge Rea B. Boylan, who presided over the trial. The note is ostensibly from an unnamed juror who contends that Romanyszyn was unfairly convicted by a biased jury swayed by pretrial publicity.

"There were a couple of the jurors who had decided already that she must be guilty because she was arrested and it was in all the news," the letter to Boylan said.

At a hearing yesterday, Webster asked Boylan to throw out the conviction based on newly discovered evidence.

"I believe, in the interest of justice, that a new trial should be granted," Webster argued. "I believe the verdict at trial would have been different" had the jury been told of other possible suspects.

Prosecutor Gary Gambardella scoffed at the claim that the unsigned letters represented evidence at all.

"If this were the standard, all you would need would be someone writing an anonymous note to the judge or the defense attorney to get a new trial," Gambardella argued.

Romanyszyn was convicted June 27 of 11 counts of terroristic threats. She was acquitted of seven other counts.

The charges stemmed from a harrowing nine-day period in October in which the threatening messages were found around the school.

The threats panicked students and parents, prompted cancellation of extracurricular events, and led to daily searches of belongings, new surveillance cameras, and the restriction of students to their homerooms.

Many were stunned when Romanyszyn was charged in January. A 10-year veteran of the Centennial School District, she had been recognized as one of Pennsylvania's best math teachers during her seven years at Klinger Middle School.

Prosecutors claimed that Romanyszyn terrorized the elementary school out of anger that she had not been assigned to a fifth-grade class.

But Romanyszyn, who has since been diagnosed with cancer, has steadfastly maintained her innocence. She remains under house arrest, awaiting sentencing.

At yesterday's hearing, a handwriting expert said the letter sent to Longstreth bore some similarities to the writing of a fifth-grader initially suspected of the threats, but the match was not conclusive.

The expert, William Ries, said the letter sent to Webster was in block printing and could not be analyzed.

Under questioning from Boylan, Ries said that some letters in the hand-addressed envelope from the alleged juror also bore some similarities to the Longstreth letter.

Boylan did not immediately rule on the motion.