United States v. MacLeod, No. 20106.

• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)
• Writing for the Court: VAN OOSTERHOUT and BRIGHT, Circuit , and NEVILLE
• Citation: 436 F.2d 947
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Douglas MacLEOD, Appellant.
• Docket Number: No. 20106.
• Decision Date: 25 January 1971

436 F.2d 947 (1971)

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,
v.
Douglas MacLEOD, Appellant.

No. 20106.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

January 25, 1971.

436 F.2d 948

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

436 F.2d 949

Irl B. Baris, Leonard J. Frankel, Newmark & Baris, St. Louis, Mo., for appellant

Daniel Bartlett, Jr., U. S. Atty., Kenneth R. Heineman, Asst. U. S. Atty., St. Louis, Mo., for appellee.

Before VAN OOSTERHOUT and BRIGHT, Circuit Judges, and NEVILLE, District Judge.

BRIGHT, Circuit Judge.

Appellant Douglas MacLeod, a St. Louis, Missouri, lawyer, failed to file federal income tax returns for the calendar years 1963, 1964 and 1965. A three-count indictment charged him with violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7203 in "willfully and knowingly" failing to make an income tax return to the Director of Internal Revenue or to any other proper officer of the United States in each of the years. Each count alleged defendant's receipt of substantial gross income ($35,133.56 in 1963; $12,821.92 in 1964; $18,143.53 in 1965). A jury found the defendant guilty on all counts. Judge Meredith sentenced him to the maximum penalty on the first count, imprisonment for one year plus a fine of $10,000.00, but granted him probation for five additional years under counts two and three. The probation terms require that MacLeod be gainfully employed and abstain from drinking.

In this appeal, MacLeod raises seven contentions running the gamut from attacks upon the constitutional validity of the pertinent federal statute to the legality of the procedures, pre-trial, trial and post-trial. We have considered each contention and find all wanting in merit. We briefly comment upon each.

Appellant argues that the evidence is insufficient to show guilty intent. The government, however, need not produce direct evidence of guilty intent. It can establish a willful violation of the federal statute by circumstantial evidence alone. Gennaro v. United States, 369 F.2d 106, 112 (8th Cir. 1966), vacated and remanded on other grounds, 390 U.S. 200, 88 S.Ct. 900, 19 L.Ed.2d 1036 (1968). In this case, evidence that the defendant conducted his

436 F.2d 950

law business, paid expenses and collected fees, as well as other evidence, satisfied the government's burden of proof. See Lumetta v. United States, 362 F.2d 644, 646-647 (8th Cir. 1966)

Appellant admitted that he failed to file returns for the years in question and that his receipts exceeded $600.00 in each of the years. He claims the trial court erred in permitting the government to introduce detailed evidence bearing upon his total gross receipts for the years in question. Clearly, this detailed evidence bears upon the willfullness of defendant's act and, therefore, it is admissible. Lumetta, supra, 362 F.2d 645-646.

Appellant contends that he would have shown the prosecution to be politically motivated had the trial judge, at a pre-trial proceeding, not restricted questioning of an IRS agent about the defendant's political background. Obviously, an accused's political background is immaterial to his failure to file tax returns. Appellant offers no evidence which even tends to suggest a "bad faith" prosecution. We deem this issue to be frivolous and to require no further comment.

Appellant contends that the IRS agent should have given him Miranda warnings in telephone conversations prior to their face-to-face meeting. Firstly, MacLeod furnished no information to the IRS agent at these conversations. Secondly, our prior decisions make it clear that Miranda¹ is inapplicable to non-custodial interrogations. United States v. Brevik, 422 F.2d 449, 450 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 398 U.S. 943, 90 S.Ct. 1861, 26 L.Ed.2d 279 (1970); Muse v....