Tax deniers v. Judges

[Demosthenes]

Report: Security for Judges Falls Short
By HOPE YEN – 15 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal judges are in danger because the U.S. Marshals Service does not work quickly enough to protect them amid growing threats of violence, Justice Department investigators said Wednesday.

The review by the department's inspector general raises questions of proper use of resources in safeguarding the 2,200 federal judges, an issue that probably will be examined at the Senate confirmation hearings of Attorney General-designate Michael Mukasey.

As a federal judge in the 1990s, Mukasey was given bodyguards at a cost of at least $28 million, even as department officials argued about how much of a threat he really faced.

The 112-page report by Inspector General Glenn Fine credits the U.S. Marshals for some improvements following a spike in acts of violence and reports of threats in 2005 and 2006. Among the improvements were installation of alarms at judges' homes. Most judges were described in the report as somewhat satisfied with that added level of protection.

But investigators found that as recently as October 2006, the U.S. Marshals' overall security efforts had "languished," with a backlog of 1,190 cases of reported threats to review. About two-thirds of the cases reviewed in 2005 and 2006 were not assessed within three days to seven days of a reported threat.

Even when threats were reviewed, the cases were not examined fully enough, leaving judges at risk, investigators said. A special office created by the agency in 2004 to identify potential threats against judges, federal prosecutors and court staff has floundered because staff and other resources were diverted to investigate reported threats.

The report says the Marshal Service must show "a greater sense of urgency" to improve assessment of reported threats, creating and sharing intelligence on potential threats, and deploying security measures.

"Given the importance of the issue of judicial protection, and the threats to federal judges in the past, we believe that the Marshals Service should move quickly to implement its plans to improve the protection of the federal judiciary," Fine said.

The Marshals Service said in a statement Wednesday it appreciated the report and noted there was "no greater sense of urgency in our agency than ensuring the security of the judiciary." The agency said it would take additional steps to improve protection and seek more money for security.

The report listed Nevada having 227 threats to federal judges and other court officials, more than any other federal judicial district.

In interviews, Nevada court officials blamed the high numbers on an increase in telephone, e-mail and Internet Web blog threats during a series of tax protester trials in Las Vegas in 2005 and 2006. Ordinarily, judges and other court officials average fewer than 40 threats per year, they said.

Judicial security received national attention in early 2005 after an unemployed electrician broke into the home of U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow in Chicago and fatally shot her husband and mother.

In the aftermath of the Lefkow deaths, judges criticized the Marshals Service — then led by Benigno Reyna — as insufficiently responsive to their security. An inspector general's report a year earlier had highlighted shortcomings in how marshals assess threats. Reyna resigned in July 2005.

In a 2006 survey conducted by the inspector general and released Wednesday, about 87 percent of the 2,141 judges who responded said they were now either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the Marshals' performance. About two-thirds of the judges overall acknowledged receiving a threat at least once during their career.

According to the survey, many judges cited a greater need for marshals to improve intelligence collection and identify potential threats. They explained that unknown general dangers associated with their job — particularly among those who hear gang, terrorism and organized crime cases — were greater than specific threats reported against them.

In the case of Mukasey, The Associated Press reported last month that the attorney general nominee had been assigned a security team of deputy marshals while he presided as a federal judge over a high-profile terror trial in the early 1990s in Manhattan. He kept the protections, code-named "Eagle Detail," until 2005 — nine years after the trial ended — at a cost of about $10,000 a day.

The detail was withdrawn shortly after deputy marshals protecting Mukasey and U.S. District Judge Kevin T. Duffy filed a grievance accusing the two jurists and their wives of assigning them valet-like chores. The Marshals Service assigns security details to about 250 judges and other court officers annually.

The agency has said most of the money was used to pay salaries and benefits for Mukasey's security detail and would have been spent whether they were assigned to protect the judge or someone else. The cost of protecting at least one other judge in the same Manhattan courthouse fell far short of what the government spent to protect Mukasey, according to an AP review of financial records.

The highlighted sentences pertain to the Irwin Schiff trial and sentencing.

[Demosthenes]

The report:

http://tinyurl.com/2wx2hc

[Demosthenes]

October 03, 2007

Chief federal judge blames threats against court on tax trials
By KEN RITTER
Associated Press Writer

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Federal marshals in Nevada battled a spike in the number of threats against judges and court officials during the trial of anti-tax crusader and author Irwin Schiff, top federal court officials in Las Vegas said Wednesday.

Cars were vandalized, but no federal judges or court officials were physically attacked or injured in Nevada during the fiscal 2006 reporting period, said Fidencio Rivera, the chief deputy U.S. marshal for Nevada.

Federal courts in Las Vegas and Reno tallied a whopping 227 threats and so-called inappropriate communications against judges and court officials, according to a report released Wednesday by the Justice Department in Washington, D.C.

That was almost five times more than any other federal district in the country, and far above the fewer than 40 threats per year the district usually receives, Rivera said. He declined to discuss specific cases.

Chief Nevada U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt attributed the dramatic increase to a rise in telephone, e-mail and Internet blog threats during Schiff's trial in Las Vegas in 2005 and 2006.

"It was not my impression that it was one person doing a lot, but rather that it was a number of people," Hunt said.

Security was unusually tight for the Schiff trial, with metal detectors and drug-sniffing dogs at the doors and marshals with automatic weapons beneath their coats sitting in the audience.

Schiff, now 79, was found guilty in October 2005 of conspiracy, tax evasion and tax fraud and sentenced in February 2006 to 13 years in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $4.2 million in restitution.

Schiff and co-defendant Cynthia Neun were convicted of advising people that no U.S. law required them to pay income tax. Another co-defendant, Lawrence Cohen, was convicted of one count of aiding in the filing of fraudulent tax returns.

The case drew intense interest among Schiff's followers, and Hunt said Wednesday that the judge who presided in the case, Kent Dawson, received round-the-clock Marshals Service protection during and after the trial.

Dawson at the time cited unspecified threats to court personnel and government officials and noted that the names and addresses of jurors had been posted on the Internet.

The Justice Department report released Wednesday by Inspector General Glenn Fine said federal judges were in danger because marshals don't work fast enough to protect them from growing threats of violence.

However, it cited recent improvements, including installation of alarms at judges' homes.

Hunt said Nevada federal judges have emergency telephone numbers to marshals, who provide home security assessments and provide tips on personal safety.

"Our marshals do an excellent job of looking after us," he said.

[Demosthenes]

For the record, I attended all but 8 days of the 6 week trial, and went back for both sentencing dates, and while I saw metal detectors, and armed marshals in the courtroom, I never once saw a drug sniffing dog.

[Dezcad]

... I never once saw a drug sniffing dog.

Did you avoid them because you were carrying?

[Demosthenes]

There were bomb sniffing dogs but they were in the parking lot examing a package left there.

No drug sniffers though.

[Nikki]

For the record, I attended all but 8 days of the 6 week trial, and went back for both sentencing dates, and while I saw metal detectors, and armed marshals in the courtroom, I never once saw a drug sniffing dog.

That's because they had all sniffed too much and were nodding off in the parking lot.

[Colonel_Buck]

Schiff and co-defendant Cynthia Neun were convicted of advising people that no U.S. law required them to pay income tax.

Is this correct? You can be convicted of saying stupid things? If that's the case, I would have been in jail a long time ago.

[RyanMcC]

Schiff and co-defendant Cynthia Neun were convicted of advising people that no U.S. law required them to pay income tax.

Is this correct? You can be convicted of saying stupid things? If that's the case, I would have been in jail a long time ago.

Sure, there are lots of stupid things someone could say that will get them in alot of trouble.. Making certain threats for example..

If I went out and convinced people there was no law that prohibited them from committing identity theft/credit fraud and a bunch of people who believed me went out and committed felonies based on my information something tells me I would be in some trouble..

While on the topic of convincing people to commit crimes I'll share this video where a group of middle-management types with no criminal records are enticed to individually rob an armored car after attending a 5 hour motivational seminar. At the end of the video 4 people are provided an easy opportunity to rob an armored car, 3 of them take it:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=p958woXcYcI
(Condensed into 10 mins, the hour long show which shares more details can found on youtube also).