Tax Evasion – Court Error

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Criminal

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Officials: RIPPLE, WILLIAMS, and SYKES, Circuit Judges

Tax Evasion – Court Error

No. 14-1206; 13-3844 United States of America v. Sharon Anzaldi and Steven Latin

Competency evaluation not necessary for appellant with no  history of mental illness—attempts to show existence of illness were all utilized in attempt to pursue sovereign citizen legal defense. Court did no err in refusing to include willfulness jury instruction.

“Despite Anzaldi’s suggestion to the contrary, the record clearly demonstrates she understood the charges against her and assisted in her defense—the key considerations under § 4241. See Alden, 527 F.3d at 659. Each time the government requested a hearing to determine whether Anzaldi was competent, Anzaldi objected, telling the district court at one point that “there would be no reason that I would be incompetent or considered that. I’m quite capable.” Standby counsel also objected to the government’s request for a competency hearing, stating, “I would object to that at this point, too. My discussion with her yesterday was very cordial and informative.” Standby counsel also told the district court that Anzaldi understood “the peril of going ahead by herself.” In deciding not to order a competency examination, the district court was entitled to consider the statements made by both Anzaldi and standby counsel affirming Anzaldi’s ability to understand the charges against her and to assist in her defense. See United States v. Savage, 505 F.3d 754, 760 (7th Cir. 2007) (“Significant weight is given to counsel’s representations concerning his client’s competence and counsel’s failure to raise the competency issue.”); United States v. Morgano, 39 F.3d 1358, 1374–75 (7th Cir. 1994) (district court entitled to rely on statements made by pro se defendant and his standby counsel to support finding no reasonable cause existed to believe defendant was mentally incompetent).”

“In light of this discussion, we find that it was not error for the district court to refuse to include a willfulness instruction. But we also note that any instructional error here would have been harmless. The pattern instruction for a tax code violation focuses on a defendant’s lack of subjective good faith. See 7TH CIR. PATTERN FED. JURY INSTRUCTIONS, at § 6.11 (2012 ed.) (“A person does not act willfully if he believes in good faith that he is acting within the law, or that his actions comply with the law. Therefore, if the defendant actually believed that what he was doing was in accord with the [tax] laws, then he did not willfully [make a false statement on a tax return].”). But the district court’s instructions addressed this, instructing the jury that the defendants’ “good faith” would preclude a guilty verdict. There would be no meaningful difference between a willfulness instruction under the tax code and the instructions the district court gave in this case. See Catton, 89 F.3d at 392 (“What ‘willfully’ adds to ‘knowingly’ in a section 287 case is obscure. Unlike a knowingly false statement, which if immaterial might not reflect a guilty intent, the making of a knowingly false claim might seem inherently willful, inherently intended to defraud, making an instruction on willfulness otiose.”).”

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.