Eugene v. Hensley v. United States

406 F.2d 481
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedMarch 17, 1969
Docket9832_1
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 406 F.2d 481 (Eugene v. Hensley v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eugene v. Hensley v. United States, 406 F.2d 481 (10th Cir. 1969).

Opinion

LEWIS, Circuit Judge.

Appellant, Eugene V. Hensley, was convicted after trial to a jury in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico on four counts of income tax evasion in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201 and on four counts of making and subscribing false returns in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1). The counts were founded on, the 1959 and 1960 returns of appellant and the appellant-controlled corporation, Ruidoso Racing Association. 1 The case against appellant was *483 proved by the “specific items” method in which over three hundred exhibits were introduced by the government. These exhibits, which for the most part were stipulated, together with the testimony of the corporation suppliers, were used to show that invoices which on their face appeared to be legitimate charges against the corporation were actually false invoices, solicited by appellant from the corporation suppliers in order to disguise payments made by the corporation to friends and relatives of appellant. The alleged fraud lies in the fact that such payments were constructive dividends to appellant and should have been reported by appellant as personal income and should not have been deducted by the corporation as corporation expenses.

Appellant pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 appeals the judgment reached below contending in summary that:

1. The verdict is not supported by sufficient competent evidence.
2. The court wrongfully denied appellant’s request to examine the grand jury records, government investigative records, and failed to comply with the procedural compulsion of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215, to determine the existence of exculpatory material in the government file.
3. The court erred in not dismissing counts V through VIII as premised upon the unconstitutionality of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1).
4. The court erred in its instructions.
5. The court erred in not dismissing counts III and VII as barred by limitation pursuant to 26 U.S.C. §§ 6072, 6513 and 6531.

Appellant’s attack upon the sufficiency of the evidence is premised on two facets of the factual background of the government’s investigation of appellant. The original investigation was begun in January 1961, and continued until April 1962, by Agent Spence. This agent’s conduct, understated, was completely reprehensible and Spence’s total unfitness was judicially determined some three months before the trial of the case at bar by his conviction for soliciting and accepting a bribe in an unrelated tax case. After April 1962, Special Agent Reynolds was assigned to the case and although for some time thereafter Spence continued to work with Reynolds the primary responsibility of investigating and preparing the government’s case was charged to Reynolds. Reynolds' integrity is in no way questioned by appellant nor by the record. Appellant asserts that Spence’s participation so taints the prosecution as to deny the application of due process. We do not agree.

There may be cases where the overall oppression and misconduct of investigative agents so shocks the judicial conscience by reflection in the record that a conviction is not based on an acceptable standard for the proper administration of justice. Perhaps Lenske v. United States, 9 Cir., 383 F.2d 20, is such a case. But certain it is that the misconduct or corruption of an investigator cannot serve, through occurrence alone, as an absolute baptism of criminal conduct in others. The government cannot gain advantage by its errant agents’ conduct; neither can the prosecution of crime *484 grind to a standstill because of such conduct. And in the ease at bar, as we have indicated, the government here wholly relied upon the testimony of the company’s suppliers and company documents which clearly and convincingly showed that the appellant-controlled corporation bestowed gratuities on friends and relatives of appellant and unlawfully dedueted the amounts as legitimate business expenses to the company and which were not reflected as income to appellant. This evidence was so self-sufficient that neither Spence nor Special Agent Reynolds testified at the trial.

■ Appellant s second argument directed against the sufficiency of competent evidence to support conviction is projected from a record silent as to any warnings given by the investigating agents 2 that might be pertinent under the constitutional compulsion set out in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, 10 A.L.R.3d 974. Since neither this argument nor any objection to the admission of evidence that might premise the contention was made in the court below the government suggests that original appellate consideration of the issue is not proper, We disagree with the government. It is clear that “even constitutional objections may be waived by a failure to raise them at a proper time,” Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts, 388 U.S. 130, 143, 87 S.Ct. 1975, 1985, 18 L.Ed.2d 1094; however one cannot effectively waive an unknown right and since the application of Miranda to tax investigations had not then been established as a right it cannot be said that appellant’s failure to object to the introduction of the evidence amounted to a waiver of a known constitutional right. Grosso v. United States, 390 U.S. 62, 71, 88 S.Ct. 709, 19 L.Ed.2d 906; Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts, 388 U.S. 130, 87 S.Ct. 1975, 18 L.Ed.2d 1094; Greenwood v. United States, 4 Cir., 392 F.2d 558, 559. Accordingly, the failure of appellant to raise an objecti0n below cannot be deemed fatal for purp0ses of our review,

To substantiate his claimed right to the Miranda warnings appellant now relies on Mathis v. United States, 391 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1503, 20 L.Ed.2d 381.

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406 F.2d 481, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eugene-v-hensley-v-united-states-ca10-1969.