Richard Douglas Furnish v. The Board of Medical Examiners of the State of California

Appellant, a physician and surgeon duly licensed for many years to practice his profession in California, in 1953 entered a plea of nolo contendere to two counts of violating Title 26 U.S.C. § 145 (b) (I.R.C. 1939). The indictment had charged him in three counts of wilfully and knowingly attempting to defeat and evade his income tax in the years 1946, 1947 and 1948 by filing false and fraudulent returns. Appellant entered a not guilty plea to Count I and nolo contendere to Counts II and III. Count I was dismissed after sentence on the second and third counts. The sentence was a fine of $5,000 on each count. From the bench the judge who imposed the sentence commented on the facts of the case and indicated that he believed on a nolo con-tendere plea to an income tax evasion charge the State Medical Board would not revoke appellant’s license to practice medicine.

The trial judge was mistaken in his clairvoyance. In 1955, the Board of Medical Examiners of the State of California made its order directing that appellant be suspended for a period of one year from the practice of medicine and surgery within that state. The order was based on the convictions represented by the pleas of…