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THANKS, MR. LAWYER-LIKE MAN, BUT WE'RE IN ENOUGH TROUBLE ALREADY

June 10, 2008

A Tennessee couple is facing federal tax evasion charges based on their use of a "de-taxing" kit. Now they've hooked up with a "lawyer" who doesn't seem likely to be a great deal of help:

An Arkansas attorney facing disbarment proceedings in his home state is trying to convince a federal magistrate judge in Knoxville to let him represent a Blount County couple accused of tax evasion.
"I've got a number of licenses to practice," Oscar Stilley, an anti-tax attorney from Fort Smith, Ark., insisted Monday when pressed by U.S. District Magistrate Judge Clifford Shirley about his claim of being an attorney in "good standing."

"Your law license has been suspended," Shirley responded.

How did Mr. Stilley respond? No, he didn't say "Shirley you jest!"

"It's just about over," Stilley responded.
Not quite, according to court records in a number of states, including Arkansas, Hawaii and Michigan.

Not only has Stilley's law license been suspended at least twice since 2001, the attorney has been sanctioned financially, jailed for contempt and is now the subject of disbarment by the Arkansas Supreme Court.

He's been accused of lying about, at worst and, withholding, at best, his suspension from a federal judge in Hawaii and was booted out of federal court there as a result.

If you're facing time in federal prison, do you really want to be defended by somebody who's been disbarred in several states and actually been jailed for contempt?

This poor couple has been looking for professional help in all the wrong places for some time. Their indictment says they purchased a "Reliance Defense Package" to remove themselves from the federal tax system. While the indictment doesn't say who sold the package to them, Bill Benson, author of "The Law That Never Was," and who is now under a permanent injunction against providing tax services, sold a product by that name.

Link: Indictment, United States of America v. Brett Edward Dirr and Renee Dirr