Kentucky State Bar Ass'n v. Brown

• Decision Date: 31 May 1957
• Citation: 302 S.W.2d 834
• Parties: KENTUCKY STATE BAR ASSOCIATION, Complainant, v. C. Maxwell BROWN, Respondent.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky

Page 834

302 S.W.2d 834

KENTUCKY STATE BAR ASSOCIATION, Complainant, v. C. Maxwell BROWN, Respondent.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

May 31, 1957.

No appearance for Kentucky Bar Ass'n.

Lee S. Jones, Louisville, for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

On May 4, 1953, C. Maxwell Brown was convicted in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky of income tax evasion, an offense denounced by U.S.C.A., Title 26, Sec. 145(b), and his punishment was fixed at imprisonment for a year and a day, and a fine of $5,000. The Secretary of the Kentucky State Bar Association filed in this court a certified copy of the judgment of conviction and a rule was issued against Mr. Brown in accord with R.C.A. 3.335 to respond within twenty days to show cause why he should not be disbarred from the practice of law by this court.

In due time Mr. Brown filed his response setting up three defenses: (1) His conviction was the result of a combination of errors in judgment on his part in paying income tax which he considered to be taxable in 1949 and 1950 under the case of Allen v. Commissioner, 5 Tax Court Reports, p. 1232, instead of paying taxes on this income in 1946 and 1947, as contended by the government, and combined with the fact that the government determined his income tax for these two years on the basis of 'net worth' statements: (2) his conviction was based on a technicality and the offense of which he was convicted under U.S.C.A., Title 26, Sec. 145(b) involved no moral turpitude; (3) his conduct both before and subsequent to his conviction has been good.

In support of his response, Mr. Brown filed a brief in which he cited In re Hallinan, Cal., 272 P.2d 768, in which the Supreme Court of California in an exhaustive opinion held an intention to defraud the United States government is not an essential element in the offense of which respondent here was convicted and that such offense does not involve moral turpitude. Many cases are cited in the Hallinan opinion from the United States Supreme Court, among which are United States v. Scharton, 285 U.S. 518, 52 S.Ct. 416, 76 L.Ed. 917, and United States v. Murdock, 290 U.S. 389, 54 S.Ct. 223, 78 L.Ed. 381, to the effect that a conviction under U.S.C.A., Title 26, Sec. 145(b) does not necessarily involve moral turpitude. Respondent attached to his brief a copy of the brief filed in the Supreme Court of California in the Hallinan case which fully discusses the question of whether a conviction under U.S.C.A., Title 26, Sec. 145(b) involves moral turpitude. After considering the authorities cited in this brief we are convinced that Mr. Brown was guilty of no moral turpitude.

We conclude that Mr. Brown's response is a sufficient defense to the rule, therefore the rule against him is now dismissed.

SIMS, Judge (concurring).

I concur with the majority opinion that Mr. Brown's conviction involved no moral turpitude and that the rule against him should be dismissed. But I feel so strongly that a conviction for income tax evasion based upon the 'net worth' method, in the language...