United States v. David A. Petersen

Defendant appeals from a conviction for filing false and fraudulent W-4E Exemption from Withholding forms and for filing a false and fraudulent W-4 Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate under the Internal Revenue Code [ 26 U.S.C. § 7205 ].

Petersen contends that the trial court erred in not giving the jury a copy of the Information for use during its deliberations. This is a matter within the court’s discretion. United States v. Murray, 492 F.2d 178, 193 (9th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 854 , 95 S.Ct. 98 , 42 L.Ed.2d 87 (1974); Souza v. United States, 304 F.2d 274, 280 (9th Cir. 1962). The information was short, not complicated, and had been read to the jury twice during the trial. There was no abuse of discretion.

Another contention is that the second count was faulty in accusing Petersen of claiming 28 exemptions when in fact the form used referred to allowances rather than exemptions. The relevant code sections demonstrate that the terms overlap in meaning to a significant extent [ 26 U.S.C. § 3402 (a), (b), (c), and (f)] and that the description of the substantive offense of claiming an excess number uses the term exemption [ 26 U.S.C. § 3402 (f)(2)(A)]. At 26…