Freedom Lawyers of America

>
> Man guilty of 29 tax violations
> By Max B. Baker Star-Telegram Staff Writer
> http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/7660301.htm
>
> FORT WORTH - After deliberating for more than 13 hours over two days, a
> federal jury Wednesday convicted Bedford businessman and tax protester
> Richard Simkanin on 29 counts of violating U.S. income tax laws.
>
> The jury of six men and six women delivered its verdict shortly after 8
> p.m. They remained deadlocked on two counts within the indictment, leading
> U.S. District Judge John McBryde to declare a mistrial on those charges.
>
> Simkanin stood silently with his hands behind his back, showing no
emotion,
> as a court clerk read the 29 guilty verdicts. Some supporters in the
> courtroom dabbed their eyes; others glared at the judge.
>
> Simkanin, 59, is scheduled to be sentenced April 30, Assistant U.S.
> Attorney David Jarvis said. He can get up to five years on each of the 25
> felony counts and up to a year on each of the four misdemeanor charges.
>
> "Justice was served, and we're pleased that the jury understood that no
one
> is above the law," Jarvis said.
>
> Arch McColl, the Dallas lawyer representing Simkanin, said his client was
> denied a fair trial because McBryde did not allow him to present key
> evidence on whether Social Security, Medicare and income taxes are
voluntary.
>
> McColl said he expects to win on appeal, but he added that it is time for
> Americans to pay attention to what happened in court.
>
> "I'm terribly disappointed," McColl said. "It was not a fair trial in
> accordance with the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution that includes the
> fundamental right to present evidence on your own behalf."
>
> Robert Schulz, founder of We the People Foundation for Constitutional
> Education, a group that questions the validity of the nation's tax laws,
> told Simkanin's supporters that the defendant was prepared for the worst.
>
> "His spirits are fine. His faith is strong," Schulz said.
>
> This is the second time Simkanin has gone on trial. In November, McBryde
> declared a mistrial when jurors who deliberated for eight hours said that
> they were deadlocked and could not reach a unanimous verdict.
>
> Simkanin is almost considered to be a political prisoner by groups that
> question the validity of the nation's tax laws. They contend that most
> Americans are not required to pay income taxes.
>
> They are particularly hostile toward the Internal Revenue Service, an
> agency that, they say, is not an official government entity.
>
> Simkanin's supporters came from around the country. They held a vigil at
> the courthouse, at one time praying in the hallway. They often gave him a
> thumbs-up gesture as he entered the courtroom. Once, Simkanin got a
> standing ovation.
>
> During the trial, Simkanin testified that he didn't withhold employees'
> taxes for Medicare and Social Security benefits because his research did
> not produce a law showing that participation in the programs was
mandatory.
>
> But Simkanin backed away from some of his anti-government comments, saying
> they were a mistake. He once wrote to the U.S. Treasury secretary saying
> that he had repatriated himself from the United States to the "Republic of
> Texas."
>
> When McColl tried to query witnesses on legal definitions of "employee"
and
> "wages," McBryde cut him off. The judge told jurors they could not
question
> the constitutionality of the tax code.
>
> Prosecutors put 11 witnesses on the stand to show that Simkanin knew what
> he was doing when he stopped withholding and paying taxes. Under federal
> tax laws, ignorance of tax codes can be used as a legal defense.
>
> Jurors sent out seven notes during their 11 hours of deliberations
Wednesday.
>
> They asked for legal definitions and whether they had to review evidence
on
> who does have to pay taxes.
>
> McColl said his client's company, Arrow Custom Plastics, is in deep
> financial trouble because of his fights with the government. Simkanin has
> been in jail since June.
>
> Simkanin was convicted on 10 felony counts of failing to withhold about
> $139,000 in taxes from employees' wages and 15 felony counts of filing
> false tax refund claims for about $235,000.
>
> He also was found guilty of four misdemeanor counts of not filing
> individual income tax returns from 1998 to 2001. Simkanin had an estimated
> gross income of about $410,000 during those years, according to the
indictment.
>
> Dottie Harrison, a Simkanin supporter from Houston, said his allies will
> continue to fight.
>
> "I'm in shock, but the determined energy everyone feels to overturn this
> injustice will be a catalyst that will expose the entire IRS fraud," she
said.
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
> "We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage
> where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens
> may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of
> human history, the stage of rule by brute force." [Ayn Rand, The Nature
of
> Government]
>
> For Liberty in Our Lifetime,
> R.J. Tavel, J.D., Founder
>
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> http://freedomlaw.com
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> perpetrators ... lay(ing) the basis for institutional change." [Noam
Chomsky]
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