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March 30, 2005
This appeal is being made after two failed attempts by the government (in 2001 and 2002), before two separate grand juries to indict Simkanin (after hearing direct testimony from him), a successful indictment by a grand jury (where Simkanin was prevented from testifying), one mis-trial ending in a "hung jury" (where Simkanin testified freely on the witness stand), a second patently flawed criminal trial (and conviction) that made a mockery of Justice and Simkanin’s Due Process rights, and 21 months of incarceration.
Simkanin is appealing his conviction for multiple tax charges stemming from
his belief that no law required him to withhold taxes from the paychecks of
his workers and no law required him to file a federal tax return.
With regard to Judge McBryde's doubling of Simknain's recommended sentence, the appeal challenges McBryde's improper consideration of Simkanin's political beliefs, Simkanin's association with We The People organization, and McBryde’s improper reliance on “facts” that were never before the jury. In its response brief, the Department of Justice concedes that Judge McBryde (in answering a question from the jury) did specifically instruct the jury that Simkanin's company (Arrow) “did have a legal duty to collect, by withholding from the wages of its employees.…”
However, and most incredulously, DOJ
goes on to argue that this instruction by McBryde to the jury did not
constitute the forbidden “directed verdict” because, DOJ argues, the jury
was free to disagree with the Judge. Specifically, DOJ argues that the jury
was, “...free to find that Arrow's workers were not employees and that
the remuneration paid to them, therefore, was not subject to employment
taxes.” [emphasis added] Consider the audacity of DOJ’s statement and the reckless disregard for Justice displayed by the federal government’s highest law enforcement agency. After the DOJ and the Judge blocked Simkanin from presenting exculpatory evidence to the jury regarding the legal meaning of the term “employee” and Simkanin’s legal obligation to withhold taxes, and after the Judge subsequently instructed the Jury that Simkanin’s workers were "employees" under the law and legally subject to withholding -- DOJ now argues that no due process violation occurred because the twelve ordinary citizens on the jury, with no apparent knowledge or understanding of the 9000 pages of the Internal Revenue Code, were “free” to reach a conclusion in direct opposition to the Judge’s instruction, i.e., concluding that Simkanin's workers were not “employees” as defined under U.S. tax law. This was, of course, the key issue in the trial. The
government also argues that the charge to the jury regarding willfulness was
legally adequate, that Simkanin's attorneys were to blame for the court's
refusal to admit any evidence into trial because Simkanin was arguing the
validity of the tax laws as opposed to his understanding of the
tax laws, and that Simkanin's doubled sentence was justified based on the
fact that his personal and political views indicated a likelihood of
committing additional crimes. In the
end, Simkanin was convicted without the government ever averring ANY
specific U.S. statute that required Simkanin to withhold taxes for his
workers – or file – or pay wage taxes. Again – NO specific law imposing
a legal duty upon Simkanin was ever cited by the government in the
indictment, in any pre-trial pleading, or at trial.
RIGHT-Click
Here to download
Simkanin's Appellate Brief. We
urge everyone to examine the details, exhibits and analyses behind the
following links to witness the extent our government will go to conceal the
fraud of the income tax system:
http://www.givemeliberty.org/rtplawsuit/simkanin/update02-29-04.htm Click
Here to read an analysis and read
selected excerpts from Simkanin's trial
transcripts. View
some pictures of WTP protestors outside Simkanin's January, 2004 tax
trial in Fort Worth. Please Donate to support the ongoing operations of the We The People Foundation. Write to Dick Simkanin at the following address:
Richard Michael Simkanin Order full-size, color reprints of the USA
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