Bill Corbett v. United States

After trial in the District Court defendant was convicted of Counts One and Two of a four-count indictment which charged four separate violations of Title 26 U.S.C. § 145 (b) [wilful evasion of income tax]. The District Court dismissed Count Four, and the jury acquitted defendant of Count Three.

Among the grounds urged for reversal is the familiar one that the Court erred in denying defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal. The basis for the motion was insufficiency of the evidence. In asserting this ground, appellant urges a different view of his earnings than he related before indictment to prospective purchasers of his business. They, in turn, as witnesses, recalled defendant’s narrative of current affluence during the indictment period.

Defendant’s income during the years here in question was derived principally from his operation of the Claremont Hotel in Seattle, Washington. Dewey Metzdorf, a prospective purchaser of the Claremont, testified that appellant had told him during 1946 that the hotel was netting $86,000.00 per year. Appellant reported on his tax return for 1945 (filed in 1946) that his net income for that year was $10,021.48, and for 1946 he reported…