United States Eighth Circuit

Defendant's convictions and sentence for tax evasion, filing false tax documents, and assisting in the preparation of false returns or other documents are affirmed over claims that the government indicted him on a theory that required proof of filing false tax returns, but the documents he filed did not meet the legal definition of a "tax return", and that the district court erred in: 1) permitting the government to reference the documents as tax returns; 2) allowing the government to introduce testimony relating to the bad tax conduct of other persons; 3) refusing to admit into evidence a videotape explaining his beliefs; 4) issuing a willful blindness jury instruction; and 5) imposing a sentence derived from the use of judge-found facts in violation of Supreme Court precedent, and by treating the advisory Sentencing Guidelines range as presumptively reasonable.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/10/2008
• Published 03/10/2008

Judges

• JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge., Before WOLLMAN, JOHN R. GIBSON, and BENTON, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Joe Alfred Izen, Jr., argued, Ballaire, TX, for appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Mark Sterling Determan, argued, Alan Hechtkopf, on the brief, Washington, DC, for appellee.