Reuben G. Lenske v. United States

The appellant Lenske will be referred to hereinafter as the defendant. In a trial without a jury in the district court he was convicted on three counts of evasion of federal income tax and on one count of wilfully subscribing to a false *21 income tax return No. 19539 is his appeal from his conviction. No. 20448 is his appeal from the order of the district court denying his motion for a new trial in the case in which he was convicted, and from the order denying his motion to disqualify the trial judge from sitting, on a remand directed by this court.

The function of a Revenue Agent in the organization of the income tax division of the Bureau of Internal Revenue is to investigate situations in which a taxpayer may not have paid as much income tax as he should have paid. Such an investigation is for the purpose of determining whether there is occasion for the Government to take the steps prescribed by law to assess and collect additional taxes. If it appears that the situation may involve a fraudulent evasion of taxes for which a criminal prosecution should be brought, a Special Agent is assigned to the case, and he is thereafter in charge of the investigation. In May, 1959, a…

dissenting on petition for rehearing:

The district judge made 93 pages of findings of fact. I find them well supported by the record. To prove them well supported by the record I would have to attach about a thousand pounds of record and exhibits. Short of that, this case must stand on the different views of the evidence of the majority and myself.

The shortages of income not reported by the defendant were mainly in connection with real estate he was hiding out, not on simple oversights of reporting.

The district court resolved everything in Lenske’s favor it could. He had the benefit of virtually all doubt. Still, that court found fraud beyond a reasonable doubt. And, so do I. As I have said before, and repeat, this case is so bad it ought to be affirmed per curiam.

The tragedy of the case is not that Lenske goes free. Internal Revenue can only catch and convict a few of those who cheat the public fisc. The tragedy is that someone might follow the case hereafter. I hope it can be treated as one of those “totality of circumstances” cases. A district court will not have another case exactly like this. Thus, it can find a- different totality of circumstances.

As one begins to…

383 F.2d 20 Reuben G. LENSKE, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee. No. 19539. No. 20448. United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit. August 28, 1967. Reuben G. Lenske, in pro. per. Mitchell Rogovin, Asst. Atty. Gen., Richard M. Roberts, Acting Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry G. Marselli, Joseph M. Howard, Charles J. Alexander, Attys., Tax Division, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for appellee. Benjamin Dreyfus, San Francisco, Cal., amicus curiae. Before CHAMBERS, Circuit Judge, MADDEN, Judge of the United States Court of Claims, and HAMLEY, Circuit Judge. MADDEN, Judge: 1 The appellant Lenske will be referred to hereinafter as the defendant. In a trial without a jury in the district court he was convicted on three counts of evasion of federal income tax and on one count of wilfully subscribing to a false income tax return No. 19539 is his appeal from his conviction. No. 20448 is his appeal from the order of the district court denying his motion for a new trial in the case in which he was convicted, and from the order denying his motion to disqualify the trial judge from sitting, on a remand directed by this court. 2 The function of a Revenue Agent in the organization…