Claude E. Spriggs v. United States

Defendant was indicted February 26, 1953, on a charge of attempting to defeat and evade his income tax for the year 1947, and was convicted by a jury on April 5, 1954. Judgment and sentence followed, from which this appeal was taken.

The history of a previous conviction on a substantially similar charge must be reviewed for an understanding of the points raised herein. An indictment returned against Spriggs on April 3, 1951, contained three counts. He was acquitted on the first two counts, which relate to other years, and we concern ourselves only with Count III, which seems to have been in the same terms as the single count of the present indictment. A bill of particulars was granted as to the first indictment. The particulars specified as to Count III were (a) unreported taxable capital gains of $1,698.15 on the sale of the “Collins” property, (b) unreported taxable capital gains of $544.64 on the sale of the “Eastwood” property, and (c) overstatement of depreciation on the “Henshaw Road” property. The specific charge as to the latter was a false representation of cost.

A jury was impaneled and the trial was held. During the course thereof, defendant moved for the striking of…