CONCORD, N.H., Oct. 2, 2009
N.H. Tax Evader Gets 35 Years for Standoff
68-Year-Old Woman Convicted with Husband on Weapons Charges Says She'll Fight "Tyranny and Oppression" from Behind Bars
-
Ed and Elaine Brown talk to reporters during a news conference in Plainfield, N.H., in this June 18, 2007 file photo. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, FILE)
-
Interactive Crime Beat Statistics and specifics on crime in America.
At her sentencing hearing, Elaine Brown said the judge's decision mattered little to her given her age and beliefs.
"I'm 68 years old. I don't have much time left on this Earth. But I have no doubt I will spend eternity with my husband and a myriad of others who have fought tyranny and oppression," she said, pausing several times to clear her throat but maintaining a defiant tone.
She and her husband, Ed, holed up in their 110-acre compound in Plainfield in early 2007 after being sentenced to five years in prison for tax evasion. They were arrested nine months later by federal agents posing as supporters, and were convicted in July on a variety of weapons and conspiracy charges.
Brown insisted that she and her husband were being punished for nothing more than civil disobedience and "daring to challenge and question this massive government."
"Our state motto is 'Live free or Die,' which is what we proclaimed over and over during our resistance," she said. "I will always resist."
The sentence fell between the 30 years plus one month the defense requested and the 41-44 years the prosecution sought.
Judge George Singal rejected Brown's civil disobedience argument, saying she was not engaged in principled dissent to laws she believed to be unjust.
"Let's not be fooled," he said. "The conduct engaged in by Mrs. Brown was purely criminal conduct. It was a threat to kill without a trial, without a hearing."
One of the charges - possession of destructive devices - carried a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in prison. Defense attorney Bjorne Lange argued that adding just one more month to that sentence would have been sufficient, saying there was no evidence Brown handled any of the weapons or explosives, other than the handgun she was holding when arrested.
Lange also urged the judge to take into account Brown's past: she worked her way through dental school, raised two children and had no brushes with the law until her arrest on the tax evasion charges.
"They want you to look at what happened at the time of the offense and say that's the sum of Elaine Brown," said Lange, who also requested the lower sentence in part because no one was hurt during the standoff.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Arnold Huftalen countered that the only reason no one got hurt was because the U.S. Marshal Service was so patient, ignoring requests from him and others to end the standoff earlier.
"To stand before you now and say 'Please be compassionate because I didn't get the opportunity to kill anyone,' is a statement I think should cause the court to look in the opposite direction," he said.
The prosecutor described the weapons strewn about the couple's home - 22 pipe bombs and a 50 caliber rifle in the bedroom alongside Elaine Brown's stuffed animal collection. Bulletproof vests and ammunition in the closet with the jigsaw puzzles. An explosive device on the jelly cupboard in the kitchen.
The handgun Brown carried was capable of killing 17 people without reloading, Huftalen said, and there was a fanny pack full of extra bullets on the kitchen table.
Brown may have raised her own children well, but she also "mothered" supporters who were drawn to the home, Huftalen said, including a 21-year-old who is now serving 20 years in prison for his role in the standoff.
"This was her house. Mr. Brown was certainly seen as the patriarch, but she was there. She ran it, she financed it ... and she encouraged people to come in," he said.
During the couple's second trial, Ed Brown testified that the weapons were for self defense and that explosives in the woods around the home were to scare intruders, not harm them. But in a radio interview during the standoff, he said if authorities came in to kill him or arrest him "the chief of police in this town, the sheriff, the sheriff himself will die. This is war now, folks."
His sentencing has been delayed while he undergoes a psychiatric evaluation to determine his competency.
© MMIX, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
More From U.S.
Add a Comment See all 19 Comments
- Tyranny and Oppression?? These jerks had the privilege, and yes it is a privilege, of living in the greatest and freest county on earth. Instead of being grateful for a life and circumstance only dreamed about by millions around the world (who live in places where there really is tyranny and oppression) these traitors spit in their country's face. May they both rot.
- Reply to this comment
- 68-Year-Old Woman Convicted with Husband on Weapons Charges Says She'll Fight "Tyranny and Oppression" from Behind Bars
Yea right, honey. You'll rot and die behind those bars. You neocon freak. - Reply to this comment
- What's worse is now someone gets to pay taxes to keep her locked up, and the age you know she is going to need medical treatment again at the tax payer's expense. And you are right it's fear that keeps the sheep in line.
- Reply to this comment
- His sentencing has been delayed while he undergoes a psychiatric evaluation to determine his competency.
=======================
Republicans. Psychiatric evaluations. I can see the connection no problem. - Reply to this comment
- "I'm 68 years old. I don't have much time left on this Earth."
TGFSF... - Reply to this comment
- I do not condone violence to solve problems with the government, but I do understand and support the strong political statment this couple made. It is a real shame that she was imprisoned for so long. I have always said that as long as one has to pay Uncle Sam once a year or they will lose their property they really don't own it Sam does. Property tax should be abolished. All of the weapons they had were on their property and none of the weapons were used. I do not think these two intended on killing anyone. At least they are not globe trotting and dropping bombs on brown people in the Middle East.
- Reply to this comment
- The tax system depends upon what the IRS euphamastically terms "voluntary compliance"... in layman's terms... self-assessment.
.
Voluntary compliance requires that the citizenry be frightened NOT to "voluntarily" comply. This in turn requires that the Department of Justice periodically select a few open-and-shut/high profile cases to keep the fear factor at a reasonably high level. The object being to create the illusion that "The IRS sees all and knows all".
.
A few recent examples; Leona Helmsley... Willie Nelson... Wesley Snipes... Richard Pryor... Ed Brown, etc., etc..
.
The IRS audits 150 used car lots... 50 of 'em are engaged in tax evasion. Even though they are all equally guilty... are they treated the same under the law? Of course not. The U.S. Attorney selects one or two open-and-shut cases and prosecutes them. The other 48, equally guilty parties are allowed to simply pay and pack. Why? Becuase in order to keep the people frightened of not complying with the tax laws, it isn't necessary to jail all the guilty.. just make an example of some.
.
Quite a system, eh? So much for the "Equal protection under the law" crappola. - Reply to this comment
- "Ed Brown testified that the weapons were for self defense"
Isn't that JUST EXACTLY what gunownerdan and all the other crazies say about their guns? - Reply to this comment
-
- These people were recruiting and allowing their home to be a "meeting place". They sound alot like people many of the republican extremists on these boards might be friends with, or at least sypathizers. They sound like the typical white supremist militia movement types.
But. No more. Not for awhile anyway. We need to re-open all those mental institutions Reagan closed down. (I think it was Reagan)
- These people were recruiting and allowing their home to be a "meeting place". They sound alot like people many of the republican extremists on these boards might be friends with, or at least sypathizers. They sound like the typical white supremist militia movement types.
- I'm not getting how this started.The Beginning.Property taxes, or does it go back farther?
- Reply to this comment
- Crazies who want to kill. And they figure that because no one likes paying their taxes that it's OK to stop, and kill anyone who says they should pay.
- Reply to this comment
- The Tax charges were trumped up, just like Hal Capone...they couldn't get this couple on anything else, so they chcarged them under the tax laws...which ANYONE can be charged under, just to get a warrant for the firearms charges.
These people are only guilty of seeking their freedoms guaranteed by the Gettysburg Address. - Reply to this comment
-
- "The Tax charges were trumped up, just like Hal Capone...they couldn't get this couple on anything else" - DaVicar8
They were guilty of not paying taxes. Almost any time that happens, you can just pay the taxes, plus a fine and that's all. But these imbeciles didn't just forget to pay some taxes, they were career criminals!
-- In 1960, Ed Brown was found guilty of assault with a dangerous weapon and armed robbery in connection with an attack on a man in Somerville, Massachusetts.
-- In 1994, Ed Brown stockpiled 18 months' worth of food, with weapons and ammunition, and believed that there would be a Federal government takeover of 'private property, utilities, health facilities and the media.' Brown said his militia was setting up its own "courts? for the purpose of taking back America." Brown said he saw no way the conflict would end except in violence.
-- In 2007, Edward Brown was found guilty by a jury in a Federal District Court in Concord, New Hampshire of three criminal charges relating to his refusal to pay taxes to the US government.
-- The same jury found Elaine Brown guilty of 17 tax-related criminal charges, including tax evasion and withholding employment taxes.
-- On April 14, 2007, Ed and Elaine Brown ordered the clerk of the court to close their case, citing themselves as 'the court' and 'judge'. The Browns signed their filings with the court using the names: "Edward, a Living Soul in the Body of the Lord, of the House of Israel," and "Elaine, a Living Soul in the Body of the Lord, of the House of Israel." The court rejected the filings. DUH!
The Browns are both CRIMINALS and they are certifiably INSANE!
"These people are only guilty of seeking their freedoms guaranteed by the Gettysburg Address." --DaVicar8
I see changing your name hasn't made you any more intelligent!
- "The Tax charges were trumped up, just like Hal Capone...they couldn't get this couple on anything else" - DaVicar8
- These two are crazies. Glad they're behind bars.
- Reply to this comment
-
- This is just the start when they were steeling farms in the midwest and Willie Nelson did the farm aid the IRS went after him the biggest gang of thives is the IRS
