Tax Activist Fights Contempt Charges
Anti-income tax proponent
Irwin Schiff's behavior during his federal trial three years ago could
earn the 80-year-old felon an additional month in prison.
U.S. District Judge Kent
Dawson slapped Schiff with 15 counts of contempt of court last month
and scheduled a hearing June 24.
Schiff, who was found
guilty of conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service, tax
evasion and filing false returns, was sentenced in 2006. He is
scheduled to be released in October 2016. Schiff represented himself
during the trial in Dawson's courtroom.
In his orders, Dawson
claims Schiff repeatedly disrupted and delayed the 2005 trial
proceedings.
Dawson said that on
several occasions Schiff:
• Offered leading questions intended to
make the witness speculate what Schiff was
thinking.
• Asked questions to elicit irrelevant
testimony.
• Offered testimony while he was
questioning witnesses and not under oath.
Schiff "did argue with
the Court over its ruling and did engage in theatrics and did describe
the actions of the Court as 'silly' after numerous warnings to desist,"
Dawson wrote in his order.
On Friday, Schiff, who is
incarcerated in Terre Haute, Ind., asked for additional time to prepare
for the hearing. In his response, Schiff requested a full transcript of
the trial and denied any wrongdoing or inappropriate behavior on his
part.
"For Schiff to establish
the mischaracterization and unwarranted nature of the charges at issue,
Schiff would need trial transcript pages showing the exact
circumstances out of which the contempt charge emerged," Schiff
wrote.
"Schiff, at this point,
is totally at a loss to understand whether or not this is an
adversarial proceeding, and, if so, who is his adversary?" he
wrote.
During the trial, Schiff
and his cohorts took to the radio airwaves to stir up other anti-tax
proponents.
Dawson said this month
that spectators at the trial would shout "objection" in the middle of
proceedings, acid was poured on the vehicles of IRS agents, and court
employees' tires were punctured.
Dawson was in fear of his
life. For months a U.S. Marshal drove him and his wife around town and
even on a trip to the mountains.
Contact reporter Adrienne
Packer at apacke@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710.
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