United States v. Bill Fred Hamilton

128 F.3d 996, 1997 WL 690842
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedNovember 26, 1997
Docket96-6250
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 128 F.3d 996 (United States v. Bill Fred Hamilton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Bill Fred Hamilton, 128 F.3d 996, 1997 WL 690842 (6th Cir. 1997).

Opinion

CONTIE, Circuit Judge.

OPINION

Defendant-appellant, Bill Fred Hamilton, appeals his jury conviction for failing to file *998 and filing false income tax returns. For the following reasons, we affirm.

I.

This is an appeal of a criminal conviction of Bill Fred Hamilton for willfully filing false United States income tax returns. Defendant was charged with failing to include gross income from the sale of coal on his income tax returns, which he signed under penalty of perjury. His defense was that the cash traced to him by the United States was not income, but rather was “just cash that flowed through his hands,”

Bill Fred Hamilton and' his wife, Connie Hamilton, were indicted by a federal grand jury on April 7, 1994 for violations of the Internal Revenue laws. Counts One and Two charged defendant and his' wife with making and subscribing a false joint United States individual income tax return under penalties of perjury for the calendar years 1987 and 1988 in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1). Counts One and Two charged that Hamilton and his wife received substantial income for the sale of coal which they failed to report on their returns for the calendar years 1987 and 1988. Count Three charged defendant with failing to make an income tax return for the calendar year 1989 in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7203.

On May 6, 1994, defendant Hamilton appeared before the district court for arraignment and entered a. plea of not guilty to each count of the indictment. On the same date, the court entered an order setting forth orderly procedures to be followed during discovery pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. . 16(b), which stated specifically:

The defendant within ten days after, arraignment, the United States attorney and the defense counsel shall confer and, upon request, the defendant shall produce all items discoverable pursuant to Rule 16(b).

(emphasis added). A trial date was set for September 6, 1994. On October 3, 1994, the first counsel whom defendant retained withdrew, and the trial was continued until October 16, 1995. On October 30, 1995, the second counsel whom defendant retained withdrew. The trial was rescheduled for January 29, 1996. The case was reassigned to a different judge, and the trial was then scheduled for May 21, 1996 before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.

At trial, the United States demonstrated that for 1987, defendant and his wife filed a joint United States income tax return that reported an adjusted gross income of $21,-386. In 1988, they filed a joint return which listed total income of $21,840. The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) had no record of defendant filing a return for 1989. The United States then introduced through corporate officers, bank officials, tellers, 'and- others, evidence establishing that during the years 1987 through 1989, defendant on a regular basis would personally cash checks in amounts of slightly less than $10,000, made payable either to other individuals or to “cash” at various banks. This testimony was given during the first five days of trial and concerned the distribution of proceeds from the sale of coal by various small coal companies. The government alleged that a large amount of the sale proceeds was income for defendant, which he failed to report on an income tax return for the calendar years of 1987,1988, and 1989.

On May 29, 1996, at the beginning of the sixth day of trial, counsel for defendant announced for the first time that he had an exhibit list to tender to the court. No exhibits by defendant had previously been furnished to the United States although it had been over two years since the United States had requested discovery of any defense exhibits. On the sixth day of trial, defendant proposed to introduce twenty-three cash receipts to. prove that he used the cash he received from the Heart and Soul Coal Company checks to pay for coal for the account of the Heart and Soul Coal Company. The amount of the receipts added up to over $240,000. 1 Defendant provided the United States with .a list and copy of the twenty- *999 three proposed exhibits, consisting of twenty-three original receipts' dated April 1988 through November 1988. The receipts had the original signatures of seven different persons, none of whom had been called as witnesses at trial, and whose names did not appear on any of the checks introduced by the United States as having been cashed by defendant or his wife.

The United States objected to the introduction of this evidence on the grounds that defendant failed to comply with the court’s discovery order of May 6, 1994, and Fed.R.Crim.P. 16(b). The district court sustained the United States’ objection and ordered that the exhibits could not be introduced. The court also ordered that the exhibits be turned over to the United States for analysis to see if the receipts had been fabricated, based in part on a sealed pleading of one of defendant’s former counsel, Ms. Butcher. 2 The court stated that it had reason to believe the receipts had been fabricated. The court then read into the record the sealed pleading, which, in part, stated that Ms. Butcher had reason to believe that defendant intended to commit perjury upon testifying at trial.

The jury found defendant guilty on all counts of the indictment on May 21, 1996. On June 7, 1996, defendant filed a motion for a new trial along with an affidavit, which stated that exhibits 1-23 consisted of original receipts obtained by defendant in 1988 when he paid cash for coal purchased by the Heart and Soul Coal Company. The affidavit alleged that he did not find the receipts until after the trial had started.

By opinion and order filed July 16, 1996, the court denied the motion, stating:

The affidavit of Bill Fred Hamilton reveals that the documents in question were within the control of Bill Fred Hamilton, and that he was aware of their existence as early as May 1994. Bill Fred Hamilton waited over two years to obtain and produce the documents. Clearly, his actions were willfully violative of the Court’s discovery order, and the sanctions imposed by the Court were appropriate, especially in light of the information contained in pleading # 50. Therefore, Bill Fred Hamilton’s motion for a new trial will be denied.

On September 10, 1996, defendant was sentenced to imprisonment for twenty-seven months, a one-year term of supervised release, and a $125 special assessment. The court also ordered that restitution be paid to the JRS for all income taxes to be judged due and owing for the years 1987,1988, and 1989. Defendant filed a timely notice of appeal on September 17,1996.

II.

We must first decide whether the district court erred: (1) in admitting into evidence the statements of defendant’s prior counsel, Ms.

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Bluebook (online)
128 F.3d 996, 1997 WL 690842, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-bill-fred-hamilton-ca6-1997.