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Can you believe it? Plotting to kidnap the judge doesn't help you beat a tax rap!

July 24, 2009

Robert Beale hasn't displayed impressive judgement in his tax life, but you have to give him credit for chutzpah.

Mr. Beale started believing wacky tax protester arguments and stopped paying his taxes, instead diverting the funds offshore. When this got him indicted, he skipped bail and spent 14 months on the run. When he was caught and locked up pending trial, he plotted to set up a "common law court" to arrest the judge -- unwisely using a monitored prison phone to organize things. He ended up being convicted of the tax charges, earning an 11-year sentence from the judge he plotted to "take out." He got another four years for the plot against the judge.

Mr. Beale's appeal brings to mind the the guy who murdered his parents and pleaded for mercy as an orphan:

Beale's next argument is that he is entitled to a new trial because the presiding district court judge did not recuse herself after learning of the attempt by Beale's "Common Law Court" to intimidate her through issuing a warrant for her arrest. Although there is some dispute as to whether Beale properly moved for recusal, the judge asked him at the beginning of the trial whether he wanted recusal, to which he responded, "by authority of the one Supreme Court in the original jurisdiction under the Lord Jesus Christ, and the law of God, I order that your bond be seized and I order that you recuse yourself from this case."

I'm no lawyer, but I think it's normally the judge that gives defendants orders in a courtroom, not the other way around.

The appeals court said Mr. Beale would have had an argument...

...if it were not for the fact that Beale and his colleagues on the "Common Law Court" intended to have a "provost marshal" serve their arrest warrant on the presiding judge. Beale clearly intended the judge to learn of this threat when she was arrested by his "provost marshal." The only thing he did not intend was that she would learn of his plot through the filing of a criminal complaint by the government. Furthermore, Beale's intent to manipulate the judicial system was clearly expressed when he was recorded saying that after he had intimidated the presiding judge, "no judge in the whole Court will have anything to do with me." (citations omitted). Remanding for a new trial with a different judge would be an undue reward for an attempt to cow the entire federal bench into submission.

The Moral? The tax law doesn't go away just because you threaten the judge.

Related: SO MUCH FOR THE 'ARREST THE JUDGE' DEFENSE STRATEGY

Cite: Beale, CA-8 No. 08-3205

Tags: Robert Beale.

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