Looks like Dogwalker has spoken again

[webhick]

BTW, I drove by the Fed. Courthouse building today. Looks like an ordinary day. I would have thought that there would have been at least 2 or 3 supporters of the Tard Trio® who could have shown up to protest the trial. Not so much as a single sign.

I felt sad about that...and then I remembered what they're on trial for and then I didn't feel sad any more. Funny how that works.

[Famspear]

This just in......

Trial set for Browns' supporters
Charges stem from tax-protesting couple

[March 24, 2008; Concord Monitor]

By Margot Sanger-Katz
Monitor staff

The trial of three men who offered their sympathies and assistance to federal fugitives Ed and Elaine Brown last year begins today in Concord. The supporters, who have made multiple public statements expressing their commitment to the Browns and describing the steps they took to help protect them, face felony charges that could result in decades-long prison sentences.

The three men, Jason Gerhard of Brookhaven, N.Y., Cirino Gonzalez of Alice, Texas, and Daniel Riley of Cohoes, N.Y., are accused of conspiring to help the Browns escape capture after the couple's own federal felony convictions, and of bringing and using guns at the Browns' concrete hilltop home in Plainfield. Gerhard and Riley are also charged with making and handling improvised explosive devices.

"This is . . . potentially an example of domestic terrorism in the United States," said JJ MacNab, an expert on tax fraud who is working on a book about tax protesters. "We're potentially looking at people who build bombs and purchase large-caliber rifles for the purpose of killing federal employees."

The Browns were convicted of several tax-related crimes after they refused to pay federal income taxes for nearly a decade, saying the tax was unlawful and the government was conspiring to keep the truth from the public. Rather than surrender to authorities, the Browns, who had longstanding ties to militia groups and had renovated their home to make it self-sufficient, retreated to their Plainfield property and said they would die before surrendering.

The Browns have been imprisoned since October [ . . . ]

Gerhard, Gonzalez and Riley are three of many supporters who visited the Browns during their nearly nine-month standoff, offering them advice, tactical support and supplies. According to allegations in court documents and public statements by the defendants, they offered armed protection for the couple, purchased groceries, communicated with supporters on the internet, bought guns and ammunition and, in the case of Riley and Gerhard, manufactured homemade bombs and guns.

All of the men spent time living at the Browns' house last summer, where they played various roles. Gonzalez, a former military contractor, served as the couple's blogger for several months and sometimes described himself as their security adviser. Riley, an electrician, helped raise money for the couple, installed electronics, and walked the couple's dog at least once. Gerhard, a college student who joined the Army just before his arrest, is accused of purchasing multiple weapons, including a .50 caliber rifle. The local police found a pipe bomb in his mother's home when they searched it after his arrest.

A fourth man, Robert Wolffe of Randolph, Vt., was arrested and charged with conspiracy and helping the Browns, but he chose to plead guilty to the charges. Wolffe is listed on the government's witness list, and motions in the court file make reference to recent testimony before a grand jury.

[ . . . ]

Riley, like the Browns, Wolffe and Gerhard, has expressed distrust towards lawyers on the grounds that they are part of a corrupt court system. Until last week, he was representing himself in the case and had filed dozens of motions, most of which were denied by Judge George Singal. In his filings, Riley alternatively described himself as "Juris Spurious" and "Sui Juris," "not Pro Se repeat not Pro Se." But Riley wrote that jail personnel and the limited capabilities of the jailhouse computer were making it difficult for him to adequately prepare for trial. In a recent hearing, he agreed to be represented by a lawyer who had been originally appointed to advise him.

The trial at U.S. District Court is expected to take two weeks [ . . . ]

One subject that will not be discussed is the defendants' views about the legality of the income tax.

Though they have all contended that the tax laws are illegitimate, and that that belief motivated their support for the Browns, Judge Singal ruled that their particular tax theories are not relevant to the charges of conspiracy and carrying weapons.

The defendants have "failed to identify how an individual's state of mind or an individual's legal position on the IRS's authority to collect personal income taxes is relevant to any asserted defense in this case," Singal wrote.

The Browns themselves remain in federal prison, where they are serving 63-month sentences for their original offenses. They have not been charged with any crimes related to the standoff, though the mention of Wolffe's grand jury testimony suggests the government may be building a case against them.

from

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs ... /803240304

[wserra]

JJ MacNab, an expert on tax fraud who is working on a book about tax protesters.

If a certain "expert on tax fraud" doesn't get on the stick, she's risking this line becoming part of her epitaph. You know: "On the whole, I'd rather be here than working on a book about tax protesters".