National Legal Issues
April 15th? Hmm. Why Does that Date Ring a Bell?
Oh, Those Wacky Transcripts
Q: Has anybody else ever threatened to kill you?
A: No. Somebody put a gun to my neck once, but I don't think he threatened to use it.
Q: W as that in an employment contact or not?
A: No. It was a social contact.
Judge: The charge here is theft of frozen chickens. Are you the defendant?
Defendant: No, sir, I'm the guy who stole the chickens.
John Wray was an attorney admitted to practice before the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Mr. Wray was also mired in debt and, while he timely filed his federal income tax returns, he failed to pay the taxes due so he could use his sparse funds to pay off his private creditors.
The Eastern District disbarred Mr. Wray from practice before that court because he had committed a “serious crime” within the meaning of Federal Rule of Disciplinary Enforcement No. I B. Mr. Wray appealed his disbarment to the Fourth Circuit of Appeals which held that “willful failure to pay income taxes is not a ‘serious crime’ within Rule I B.” In re Wray, No. 05- 1106, 2005 WL 3547971 (4th Cir., Dec. 29, 2005).
Before you tax protesters get too excited, though, the Fourth Circuit’s decision only deals with the definition of a “serious crime” under the FRDE. For the purposes of that rule, Mr. Wray’s misdemeanor conviction for willfully failing to pay his taxes was deemed not as serious as a willful failure to file his tax returns. The Fourth Circuit stated that Mr. Wray did not commit fraud or conceal his income; he just did not pay his taxes.
I wonder if I should ask my Dad the accountant whether I can refuse to pay my taxes this April 15th because, hey, it’s not a “serious crime”? But I think he would just wonder what the heck did they teach me in law school.