United States v. W. Vaughn Ellsworth

Of the issues raised by the defendant-appellant, this is the most troublesome: Has one accused of a crime been wrongfully denied the assistance of appointed counsel, under the Sixth Amendment and the Criminal Justice Act [18 U.S.C. § 3006A (1970)] when he has refused to comply with the court’s request to complete its Financial Affidavit form, CJA 23, as proof of indigency? We conclude that the defendant here was not impermissibly denied counsel.

He was convicted of one count of filing a tax return knowing it to contain false statements [ 26 U.S.C. § 7206 (1) (1970)] and three counts of willfully failing to file income tax returns [ 26 U.S.C. § 7203 (1970)].

Ellsworth, an active tax protester, believes that laws relating to the United States monetary system are unconstitutional. He contends that a “constitutional dollar” is measured in grams of silver or gold and that Federal Reserve Notes are worthless paper. These misconceptions led to his submission of tax returns for 1969,1970 and 1971 which gave no statistical information. They stated only that Ellsworth received no silver or gold dollars and was therefore unable to calculate his tax. Included with his returns were silver…