Pensacola evangelist and tax protester Kent Hovind winked at his wife and gave her a reassuring smile as he was led away to jail.
Jo Hovind clutched the necktie he had been wearing. She kept her eyes on her husband until he was out of sight.
A 12-person jury deliberated for 2½ hours on Thursday before finding the couple guilty of all counts in their tax-fraud case.
Kent Hovind, founder of Creation Science Evangelism and Dinosaur Adventure Land in Pensacola, was found guilty of 58 counts, including failure to pay $845,000 in employee-related taxes. He faces a maximum of 288 years in prison.
Jo Hovind was charged and convicted in 44 of the counts involving evading bank-reporting requirements. She faces up to 225 years in prison but was allowed to remain free pending the couple's sentencing on Jan. 9.
Kent Hovind briefly held onto her arm as the verdict was read. Neither reacted at first. But minutes later, she held her face in her hands.
"Nobody likes to pay taxes," Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Heldmyer said in her closing argument. "But we do because it's the law, and he is not above the law."
The jury also granted the prosecution's request for the Hovinds to forfeit $430,400. That amount equals the value of the checks signed and cashed by Jo Hovind in the 44 counts.
U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers released Jo Hovind until sentencing but denied Kent Hovind's request to be released. He most likely will be detained at either Escambia County Jail or Santa Rosa County Jail until sentencing.
Heldmyer said Kent Hovind was a flight risk and a "danger to the community."
His attorney, Alan Richey, argued that the Internal Revenue Service pursued his client because of his religious beliefs.
Kent Hovind, whose life's mission is to debunk evolution, says he and his employees are workers of God and therefore exempt from paying taxes. He pays his employees in cash and does not withhold their taxes or pay his share as an employer.
"There's a difference between wrong and committing a crime," Richey said in his closing argument. "You can do all the wrong things you want and still not commit a crime."
Jo Hovind's attorney, Jerold Barringer, argued that his client was a simple piano teacher and grandmother who was not aware of bank-reporting regulations concerning large amounts of cash. Any cash transaction at a bank more than $10,000 triggers a currency-transaction report forwarded to the IRS. She was found guilty of using several methods to take out just enough money to avoid triggering the report.
The Hovinds and their attorneys declined comment. Their supporters, who took up most of the six rows in Rodgers' courtroom, dwindled in number as the day went on.
Jo Hovind's son, Kent Andrew Hovind, and two women escorted her out of the U.S. District Courthouse in downtown Pensacola.
Richard Hogan, an acquaintance of Kent Hovind who observed the last day of the two-week trial, said he felt especially bad for Jo Hovind.
"He was the leader, and she probably went along with him," said Hogan, 53. He first met the Hovinds when their children were homeschooled.
"It's pretty tough to fight Goliath," Hogan said. "The first time the IRS calls, you should go ahead and deal with it. It didn't have to come down to this."
No it didn't, but Hovind knew that, and he thought God was on his side. He was wrong. (see here and here for my background to the story)
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Technorati tags: Kook, Creationism
3 comments:
It's too bad about Hovind. While I have to agree with many of his critics about his awful lack of citations, he at least contributed to keeping a dialogue alive in the face of increasingly monolithic consensus.
It's strange that he had this issue with paying taxes though. Christ had this discussion about taxes with some of his followers one day. They wanted to know if it was "lawful (according to God's law) to pay to Caesar or not?" He asks someone to hand him a coin. "Whose picture is this on this coin?" He questions. "...well, Caesar's" So He replies, "Render to Caesar's what it Caesar's."
So here's to paying taxes (clink).
grynne,
He thought he was above the law, and tried to skirt around the authority of his government by appealing to the authority of his religion.
He has been a crook as long as he's been on the YEC circuit. He spews lies for a living, so it is easy for him to lie about claiming not to know what the law says (he claimed this as a defense). The problem is, he claimed this back in the 80s the first time he was charged with tax evasion. He then tried to file for bankruptcy to avoid paying back taxes. See more here.
You reap what you sow.
True enough.
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