This is an update on a previous post about this
Jan. 15, 2007
"VDW: STAND OFF LIKE THE ONE AT WACO BEGINNING IN NEW HAMPSHIRE"
Why is it that we can see so much money spent to prosecute people who are simply asking that the LAW be produced on the fraudulent Income Tax (IRS) and no money spent to protect our borders from invading hoards of ILLEGALS? Could it be that we really have no LAW in America only the DICTATES of THE DECIDER? Make note of which *laws* The Decider pursues and which ones he refuses to enforce or acknowledge.
Jackie Juntti
WGEN
idzrus@earthlink.net
"The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with
it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to
follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind
of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it
is supposed to punish!" The Law, 1850.
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs ... /701170329
Tax case differences
Wife makes a deal; husband digs in
By Kate Davidson and Margot Sanger-Katz
Monitor staff
January 17. 2007 8:00AM
JENNIFER HAUCK Valley News
Ed Brown, barricaded in his Plainfield home, gives a radio interview yesterday. He said he’s preparing for an armed standoff with U.S. Marshals. “I don’t fear death,” he said.
Zoom
While her husband barricaded himself in their Plainfield home for the fourth day in a row, Elaine Brown returned to federal court yesterday, accepted the help of a lawyer and appeared close to reaching a plea deal in her tax evasion case.
Judge Steven McAuliffe agreed to postpone the couple's trial for another day to allow prosecutors to calculate how much they expect Elaine Brown to pay in back taxes and penalties, including a prison term, as part of the deal. According to her lawyer, Brown and the government have agreed on the "substance and extent" of her criminal liability.
Ed Brown did not join her, choosing instead to remain at their Plainfield home, where he said he is preparing for an armed standoff with U.S. Marshals.
"As for me, give me liberty or give me death," he said to one of his supporters on the phone yesterday, quoting Patrick Henry.
The Browns had been representing themselves at trial, arguing that they have violated no laws by failing to pay income taxes for the past 12 years. They are charged with conspiring to evade taxes, conspiring to disguise large financial transactions and disguising large transactions. Elaine Brown, who earned most of the couple's income, is also charged with tax evasion and with failing to collect employment taxes from the staff of her Lebanon dental office.
They attended the first three days of trial but did not come to court on Friday. Ed Brown said they were dissatisfied with the way McAuliffe was managing the trial and did not plan to return.
"I don't see any point in coming down there," he said Friday. "This is a kangaroo court."
McAuliffe interrupted the trial until yesterday, urging both Browns to reconsider that decision. Elaine Brown returned alone.
According to Michael Avery, a friend of the couple who has been acting as their paralegal throughout the trial, the deal the government offered Elaine Brown included two years in prison, three years of supervised probation, the forfeiture of her dental office building and payment of back taxes and some fines. He was not certain how many charges Elaine Brown was asked to plead guilty to.
U.S. Attorney Bill Morse said that the government would need some time to calculate Elaine Brown's total tax liability. Its previous estimate of $625,000 did not include all of the years in which Elaine Brown admits she did not pay taxes.
Elaine Brown's newly appointed lawyer, Bjorn Lange, told the judge that she was very close to reaching a deal with prosecutors. But Avery, who sat in on negotiations, said that Brown was still uncertain about how she would proceed. If she does not reach a deal by 10 this morning, McAuliffe said, the trial would resume.
"We don't see that as being a very attractive deal," he said.
Elaine Brown would not answer questions about the negotiations.
Since she failed to appear on Friday, McAuliffe gave Elaine Brown new bail conditions. He ordered her to stay with a son who lives in Worcester, Mass., and not to return to her Plainfield home. She is only allowed to contact her husband by phone. He also ordered that she submit to electronic monitoring.
He's holding out
But while Elaine Brown discussed these details of her possible plea agreement - which would require her to admit wrongdoing - Ed Brown stood by his argument that he and his wife should not have to pay a federal income tax, and he said he was willing to resort to violence to defend himself.
"I don't fear death," Brown said, when asked why he didn't join his wife in court. "I don't fear these people."
With a handgun tucked inside the front of his pants, Ed Brown met with reporters yesterday in the kitchen of his Plainfield home. Three of the Browns' supporters blocked the driveway with their cars, listened to a police scanner for news of a possible raid on the property and kept an eye out for people approaching the home.
A sign at the end of the driveway read, "Fed bullies: leave the Browns alone." On a nearby tree, a large sign warned "public servants" and government officials not to trespass.
Although federal agents seized more than 30 weapons from the Brown home in May, Ed Brown said some weapons were left on the property. Brown said he expects more supporters to come to the house within the next few days.
"The whole woods will fill up," Brown said. "These are some very serious people."
Brown said he has been speaking with officials from the U.S. Marshals Office in Concord daily, but he didn't expect anyone to come for him within the next few days.
U.S. Marshal Stephen Monier confirmed his office has been in regular contact with Ed Brown and said he hoped Brown would return to court when his trial resumes today. Monier said his office will continue to keep the lines of communication open and keep the situation "low-key."
"We have no plans to go to the property at this point," Monier said.
In court yesterday, Ed Brown's probation officer took the stand to testify that he was not sick or disabled and had expressed that his absence was voluntary. McAuliffe ruled to allow the case to move forward with or without Brown.
But Brown said if the marshals come for him, he'll be ready for a situation similar to the standoff in Waco, Texas. In 1993, members of the Branch Davidian religious sect there barricaded themselves for nearly two months and fought off federal agents who were trying to raid their compound. Eighty people died, including four law enforcement agents.
'It's going to get really violent'
E-mails that have circulated on anti-government websites and e-mail listservs have called on supporters to help protect Brown and his home. One message, urging people to join Brown, was titled "Will Plainfield be another Waco?"
"You attack my property, it's going to get really violent," Brown said yesterday. "I don't care who it is."
At Brown's bail hearing in May, the prosecutor described Brown as "heavily armed and dangerous," citing several reasons why he should be held through his trial. He argued that the fortified design of the Brown's home and Ed Brown's history of violent threats might put federal agents at risk if Brown failed to appear at his trial.
The Browns' large home, surrounded by acres of woods, sits atop a large hill. A circular tower affords a 360-degree view, and walls in the home's recent addition are reinforced with 10-inch-wide concrete walls, Brown said.
Over the past few decades, Brown has claimed membership in several anti-government and militia groups including the Constitution Rangers of the Continental Congress of 1777, the Constitution Defense Militia and the UnAmerican Activities Investigations Commission, which he founded.
Magistrate James Muirhead ruled that Brown's previous statements were irrelevant to the question of bail. He allowed Brown to go home, though he asked him to turn over all his weapons, a common requirement for those charged with a felony.
Supporters gather
Outside the home yesterday, three members of the Keene Free Press - a libertarian publication that has been supporting the Browns - stood watch and greeted people who came onto the property.
Russell and Kat Kanning, a Keene couple who have refused to pay their taxes since 1998, said they sympathized with the Browns and came to Plainfield to support them. But standing unarmed in the Browns' garage yesterday, they seemed decidedly less militant than Ed Brown himself.
"If the feds come storming down the driveway, I'm not going to shoot them," Russell Kanning said. "But if they asked me to leave . . . they'd have to drag me to jail, which might happen."
So far, Brown's calls for court attendance have met with more response than his pleas for militia support. A growing number of sympathizers have been watching the proceedings at the federal courthouse in Concord. About 15 witnessed Elaine Brown's court hearing yesterday, several said they were filing court papers and contacting local officials about the case, and most of them gathered in a restaurant near the courthouse afterward to help her strategize.
"We're here as Americans trying to protect our Constitution and our country," said Dennis Mounce just after the hearing let out. "It might as well be me."
------ End of article
By KATE DAVIDSON and MARGOT SANGER-KATZ
Monitor staff