Norman and Viola Calhoun v. United States

Plaintiffs (hereinafter “taxpayers”) sued in the district court for a refund of $87,- 351.35 paid in federal income taxes, including penalties and interest under a deficiency assessment. The taxes were for 1956, 1957, 1959-63. Taxpayers appeal pro se from a judgment for defendant (hereinafter “the Government”), based on a verdict of a six-member jury.

(1) Jury size: Contrary to taxpayers’ contention, they were not entitled to a jury of 12 members [Colgrove v. Battin, 413 U.S. 149 , 93 S.Ct. 2448 , 37 L.Ed.2d 522 (1973)].

(2) State-court judgment: Taxpayers, after the trial of the case at bar, got a judgment in their favor in state court, against the state taxing agency, involving taxes for the years involved in the case at bar. They seem to contend this state-court judgment has a collateral estoppel effect on the present appeal, but such is not so [see Sea-Land Services, Inc. v. Gaudet, 414 U.S. 573, 593 , 94 S.Ct. 806 , 39 L.Ed.2d 9 (1974)]; the state-court judgment is legally irrelevant to the present appeal.

(3) Government counsel’s conduct at trial: Taxpayers, who represented themselves, contend that at trial Government counsel roamed the courtroom at will and made…