Bank Records and Net Worth Increases
3 Page5
B.
Failure To Investigate Leads Provided By The Taxpayer.
Chu next argues that the government failed to investigate or follow up
leads provided by the defendants which might have led to non-taxable
sources of income, and this failure of the government to investigate the
leads renders the government's case insufficient to go to the jury under
the decisions of Holland, supra, Scott, supra, and United
States v. Keller [75-2 USTC ¶9729 ],
523 F.2d 1009 (9th Cir. 1975). Chu focuses on the government's failure
to investigate suggestions that members of the defendants' extended
family, including relatives residing in mainland
China
, allegedly loaned and entrusted the defendants with significant sums of
money to "buy a house and create a safe sanctuary for members of
the extended family." The government contends that the trial court
properly instructed the jury that "they have to find from the
evidence that the government had met its burden of investigating any
lead or explanation supplied by the taxpayer and that
Holland
only requires the government to investigate leads 'reasonably
susceptible of being checked.' " The government contends that it
investigated every lead reasonably susceptible of being checked brought
to its attention. Further, the government notes that during the trial it
revised the defendants' opening net worth figures upward to take into
account nontaxable sources of income supplied by the taxpayers.
In
Holland
, the United States Supreme Court stated that "When the
government fails to show an investigation into the validity of such
leads, the trial judge may consider them as true and the government's
case insufficient to go to the jury." 348
U.S.
at 136. But the
Holland
court also stated that the government need not investigate all
leads. The court in
Holland
limited the scope of the government's required investigation to
"relevant leads furnished by the taxpayer--leads reasonably
susceptible of being checked, which, if true, would establish the
taxpayer's innocence."
Id.
at 135-36. Thus, the issue is not whether the government fully
investigated each and every lead furnished by the defendants, but
whether the government failed to investigate any "relevant leads .
. . reasonably susceptible of being checked." Agent William Schroer
testified that the government investigated all leads concerning certain
bank accounts and other records of the defendants and where appropriate,
increased its net worth calculation in favor of the defendants. Our
attention, then, focuses on whether the government adequately
investigated the proffered leads suggesting that additional non-taxable
income may have been realized from certain loan transactions within the
defendants' extended family.
In
1982, the defendants provided the government with letters written in
Chinese dated in 1979, 1980 and 1981, allegedly from family members in
China
, and allegedly discussing loans given to the defendants in previous
years. Agent Hinkle testified that he had the letters translated,
requesting the originals of the letters to have a lab verify their
authenticity and also requested supporting documentation for the
purported loans. The defendants have failed to provide either the
original letters much less any supporting documentation for the
purported loans. In United States v. Goldstein, 685 F.2d 179 (7th
Cir. 1982), the defendant in a net worth tax prosecution argued that his
increase in net worth was attributable to a non-taxable cash inheritance
that he received. In holding that the evidence was sufficient to support
the jury's guilty verdict, this court stated, "There was not a
probated will or other record of any inheritance, and the testimony of
the inheritance came from [the defendant's] relatives. The jury was
under no duty to accord face value to this self-serving, undocumented
testimony."
Id.
at 182. Similarly in the present case, there is no documentation or
record of any loans to the defendants other than the copies of alleged
letters from the defendants' relatives, and the jury was under no duty
to accord face value to the defendants' self-serving claim of having
received loans from family members.
Furthermore,
Agent Schroer testified that if the alleged family loans that
Chu
contends were received before
January 1, 1977
(the first tax year under examination) were invested prior to
January 1, 1977
and were reflected as assets in the defendants' opening net worth
statement, the existence of the loans would have no bearing on the
defendants' net worth computation. According to Schroer, the existence
of the family loans would benefit the defendants' net worth computation
only if the alleged loans were held as cash on
January 1, 1977
and were converted into assets during 1977 and 1978. Since, as noted
above, the record discloses that the defendants engaged in a pattern of
investing available funds and the record is silent of any evidence of
any significant cash on hand on
December 31, 1976
not included in the government's calculation of the defendants' opening
net worth, the jury had ample evidence to conclude that if the
defendants in fact received loans from various family members, the funds
were invested prior to
January 1, 1977
and thus had no bearing on the defendants' net worth during 1977 and
1978.
The
diligence of the government in investigating all of the leads which were
reasonably verifiable, the lack of the defendants' cooperation in
failing to provide originals of letters, the defendants' failure to
provide any loan documentation combined with Agent Schroer's testimony
that the defendants' net worth would not be affected by any loans
invested prior to
January 1, 1977
provides sufficient evidence from which a reasonable person would
conclude that the government investigated "all leads reasonably
susceptible of being checked, which if true, would establish the
taxpayer's innocence." Chu's argument that the IRS should follow
leads to mainland China is as ridiculous as suggesting that the IRS must
follow like leads into the Soviet Union, Poland, Afghanistan, Iran,
Iraq, Africa, or other similar, troubled, and/or distant countries. A
lead that requires world-wide investigation to be verified can hardly be
characterized as "reasonably susceptible of being checked."
C.
Likely Source of Unreported Income.
Chu contends that the government not only failed to establish a
reasonably certain opening net worth and failed to negate all possible
sources of non-taxable income, but also failed to provide a likely
source for additional unreported income. Chu believes the government
failed in this regard because: (1) the government offered no evidence of
the number of Phendimetrazine 4 actually
dispensed rather than stolen, not included in records, or discarded due
to damage; (2) the government offered no evidence showing the percentage
of Phendimetrazine dispensed for money as opposed to dispensed without
charge; and (3) even if each of the 700,000 allegedly missing
Phendimetrazine had been dispensed at $.07 a piece, the total income of
$49,000 was more than accounted for in the earnings reported by the
Southeastern Medical Center for the two years in question.
In
net worth tax prosecution, the government must establish "[e]ither
a 'likely source' of the illegally unreported income represented by the
calculated increase in net worth plus non-deductible expenditures in the
year in question . . . or all possible sources of non-taxable income
must be negated." United States v. Grasso [80-2
USTC ¶9593 ], 629 F.2d 805, 808 (2nd Cir. 1980). See also
United States v. Massei [58-1
USTC ¶9326 ], 355 U.S. 595, 595 (1958). "The government
could win its case without even introducing evidence of a likely source
of income. . . . Proving a likely source of income is merely one of the
ways that the Government can prove that the increased net worth resulted
from taxable sources." United States v. Goldstein [82-2 USTC ¶9507 ],
685 F.2d 179, 183 (7th Cir. 1982). Thus, contrary to
Chu
's contention, the government need not both prove a likely source
and negate all possible sources of non-taxable income. In the present
case, the government presented evidence from which a reasonable jury
could find that the government had established "a reasonably
certain" opening net worth and that the government investigated all
"relevant leads . . . reasonably susceptible of being
checked," thus negating possible sources of non-taxable income.
In
addition to negating sources
of non-taxable income, DEA Compliance Inspector Joel Fries testified
that his review of the defendants' dispensing records of controlled
substances, their account book and their purchases of Phendimetrazine
revealed a total of over 698,000 Phendimetrazine units unaccounted for
during the years 1977 and 1978, and the defense introduced testimony
that the Phendimetrazine tablets were generally dispensed at a cost of
$.07 per unit. Thus, the record contained sufficient evidence to allow a
reasonable juror to conclude that unrecorded sales of the
Phendimetrazine constituted a likely source of unreported taxable
income. Chu relies on
United States
v. Grasso, supra, and United States v. Bethea, 537 F.2d
1187 (4th Cir. 1976), both of which are clearly distinguishable from the
present case. In Grasso, the government investigation yielded
"no factual basis for identifying a 'likely source' ", 629
F.2d at 808, and in Bethea "not one shred of evidence was
introduced at trial to show [the defendant] had any dealings in
narcotics or was in partnership with his brother [who dealt in
narcotics]." 537 F.2d at 1191. In contrast, the jury in the instant
case had sufficient evidence before it to conclude that the government
negated all possible sources of non-taxable income and also established
that unrecorded sales of the unaccounted-for Phendimetrazine provided a
likely source of unreported taxable income.
III.
We
turn now to Chu's contention that the trial court erred in admitting the
statements made by the defendants to IRS agents into evidence as the
agents contacted and interviewed the defendants without the presence of
their counsel in violation of Massiah v. United States, 377 U.S.
201 (1964), requiring that indicted individuals be questioned concerning
the charges pending in the indictment only in the presence of counsel,
and because the defendants did not waive their constitutional rights
intelligently, knowingly, and voluntarily. The government argues that
the defendants had no right to counsel under Massiah since the
indictment charging a violation of the controlled substance statutes had
been dismissed before the IRS ever contacted the defendants, and the
defendants obviously had not been indicted before the investigation for
the income tax evasion was completed. Further, the government contends
that the defendants did, in fact, waive any constitutional rights that
they retained when they were interviewed by the IRS agents.
In
Massiah, the Supreme Court held that an accused "was denied
the basic protections of the [Sixth Amendment] [when the government
introduced the defendant's own statement against him] which federal
agents had deliberately elicited from him after he had been indicted and
in the absence of his counsel."
Id.
at 206. Thus, if in fact Chu had been indicted on the income tax evasion
charges at the time of his interview with IRS agents Hinkle or Schroer,
any statements made by Chu without the presence of legal counsel would
have been inadmissible against him on the tax evasion charges as Massiah
prohibits the admission of statements against a defendant when
"deliberately elicited from him after he had been indicted and in
the absence of counsel." During the period Hinkle and/or Schroer
interviewed
Chu
, the controlled substance indictment had been dismissed and was no
longer pending, and he was a free man, not as yet having been indicted
on the tax evasion charges. Consequently,
Chu
's counsel in a novel but not too clever way seeks to expand upon the
protection Massiah affords one under indictment to cover
statements made after the dismissal of that indictment. Neither Chu nor
his counsel have provided any authority to support this position, but
contend in another novel argument that the DEA investigation and the IRS
investigation should be considered as one investigation since the DEA
was the source of information concerning the defendants, and also argues
that the dismissal of the DEA indictment did not terminate the
defendants' Massiah rights.
We
need not discuss whether the defendants' Massiah rights
terminated with the dismissal of the DEA indictment as
Chu
's argument fails because the subsequent indictment and conviction
involved an entirely different offense--income tax invasion.
"Massiah
offers no immunity from liability for uncounseled, and post-indictment
statements that involve different criminal acts. Such statements, even
though deliberately elicited by government agents after indictment and
in the absence of counsel, may form the basis for a separate indictment
and may be offered to prove such additional charges. . . . Massiah
is limited to holding that incriminating statements made by indicted
defendants out of the presence of counsel may not be admitted at trial
to prove the charge in the pending indictment."
United
States v. Grego, 724 F.2d 701, 703 (8th Cir. 1984) (emphasis added).
In Grego, a conversation between two defendants in the absence of
counsel was recorded after the defendants had been indicated by a
federal grand jury in
Georgia
on a charge of importation of marijuana. The defendants were
subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury in
Arkansas
for conspiracy to possess marijuana and the trial court admitted
evidence of the conversation recorded after the return of
Georgia
indictment. The court concluded:
"Although
both indictments involve marijuana, the acts on which they were based
were separate and distinct and did not amount to a single criminal
offense. . . .
When
the tape of the conversation was made [the defendants] had not been
indicted on any offense for which the tape was later used against them;
therefore, we affirm the district court's refusal to apply Massiah
to exclude the tape."
Grego,
724 F.2d at 703.
The
court in United States v. Lisenby, 716 F.2d 1355 (11th Cir. 1983)
(en banc) (per curiam), was presented with a similar fact situation and
reached a similar conclusion. In Lisenby the defendant had been
arrested and charged with possession of marijuana. The government
recorded conversations involving the defendant after he had been
released (while the possession charge was still pending) and
subsequently indicted the defendant for conspiraccy and possession with
intent to distribute marijuana. The trial court admitted the taped
conversation into evidence at the trial for conspiracy and possession
with intent to distribute marijuana. The Eleventh Circuit upheld the
admission of the recorded conversation, reasoning that, "The Sixth
Amendment right to counsel attaches once adversary proceedings have been
commenced, but it attaches as to those adversary proceedings and
not other offenses. . . . The admission of statements made after the
initial arrest in the trial for a subsequently charged offense is not
contrary to Massiah." 716 F.2d at 1359 (emphasis in
original) (citation omitted).
The
defendants in the case at bar were initially indicted on drug-related
charges. Only after the drug-related charges were dismissed and the
defendants were free of any criminal charges did the IRS elicit the
statements from the defendants that were subsequently introduced at
their income tax evasion trial. The income tax evasion charge was
completely separate and distinct from the charge of improper record
keeping and improper distribution of a controlled substance recited in
the prior indictment. Following the reasoning of Grego and Lisenby,
the defendants' statements are admissible since at the time the
statements were made, the defendants "had not been indicted on any
offense for which the [statements were] later used against them." Grego,
724 F.2d at 703. Furthermore,
Chu
's argument for suppressing the statements to the IRS agents in this
case is even weaker than that rejected by the Eighth and Eleventh
Circuits in Grego and Lisenby respectively since at the
time of the defendants' statement to the IRS agents in the instant case,
no indictment was pending against them. Thus, we hold that the trial
court properly admitted the statements the defendants made to IRS agents
prior to their indictment for income tax evasion.
Chu
also contends that he and Cheng did not
waive their constitutional rights when they made statements to the IRS
agents.
Chu
fails to delineate or explain what, if any, constitutional rights the
defendants had not waived, much less which of their constitutional
rights they did not understand. As we have just concluded, Massiah
does not apply to the statements the defendants made to the IRS agents
since, at the time of the defendants' statements, they had not as of
that date been indicted for income tax evasion. Since the defendants
were not in custody at the time of other statements to IRS agents, Miranda
v.
Arizona
, 384 U.S. 436 (1966), does not require that the defendants be
admonished of their rights before questioning. Beckwith v. United
States [76-1
USTC ¶9352 ], 425 U.S. 341, 347 (1976); United States v.
Mapp [77-2 USTC ¶9607 ],
561 F.2d 685, 688 (7th Cir. 1977); United States v. Fitzgerald [76-2 USTC ¶9756 ],
545 F.2d 578, 581 (7th Cir. 1976).
Chu
contends that because he and Cheng did not understand that the IRS was
conducting a criminal investigation, they did not intelligently,
knowingly, and voluntarily consent to make statements to the IRS.
The
Supreme Court recognized in Beckwith that "noncustodial
interrogation might possibly in some situations, by virtue of some
special circumstances, be characterized as one where 'the behavior of .
. . law enforcement officials was such as to overbear the petitioner's
will to resist and bring about confessions not freely self-determined. .
. .' " 425
U.S.
at 347-48. In the case before us, Hinkle testified that before asking
the defendants any questions, he read aloud to the defendants from an
IRS warning card:
"[O]ne
of my functions is to investigate the possibility of criminal violations
of the Internal Revenue laws. . . . Under the Fifth Amendment to the
Constitution of the
United States
I cannot compel you to answer any questions or to submit any
information. . . . [A]nything which you say may be used against you in
any criminal proceeding which may be undertaken, [and] you may, if you
wish, seek the assitance of an attorney before responding."
Chu
testified at the suppression hearing held before trial that he is a
naturalized citizen of the United States, that he began to learn the
English language in his grade school years in China, that he took
post-graduate courses at New York University in English after his
arrival in the United States, and that he had been practicing psychiatry
in this country for more than 20 years.
Chu
also conceded it was of the utmost importance for him in the practice of
medicine, and particularly psychiatry, to understand a patient in order
that he might make a proper diagnosis. Further, it seems obvious that
the State of
Indiana
would require that medical doctors be able to fully understand and
converse in the English language before granting a license to practice
medicine in
Indiana
. The record also reveals that the defendants were knowledgeable in the
field of financial affairs, with sophisticated investments in stocks,
real estate, and a medical partnership.
Chu
acknowledged that he understood the language Hinkle used when explaining
the defendants' rights, and after Hinkle recited the standard IRS
statement advising the defendants of their rights, the defendants both
responded "Yes" to Hinkle's question whether they understood
their rights. Before going further with the interview, the defendants
discussed whether it was advisable for them to obtain an attorney at
this juncture in the investigation. Thus, there is ample evidence in the
record supporting the conclusion that the defendants clearly, knowingly
and intelligently understood the elements of the warnings read to them
by Hinkle, the nature of the investigation, the nature of their rights,
and thus that no "special circumstances"existed which would
make defendants' statements anything but voluntary. We hold it was not
error for the trial court to admit the statements the defendants made to
the IRS agents.
IV.
Finally,
Chu
contends that he was denied a fair trial due to the Assistant United
States Attorney's imputation of uncharged, unsupported criminal
misconduct on the part of the defendants in closing argument in spite of
the government's pledge not to offer evidence of uncharged criminal
activity. During its closing argument, the government stated:
"Well,
you have heard about the results of that [DEA] audit. You heard that
they purchased during that period of January 1, '77 through February 23
of '78, before any returns were filed, that they had purchased 830,000,
thousand capsules of--831,000 capsules in
Logansport
, or wherever they lived. Why? I didn't know there were that many people
in
Logansport
or the other town that were so overweight that needed that kind of
weight reduction. You heard they were mild uppers. These speckled birds,
these robins eggs, what happened to the 698,000 pills that are missing?
You think they don't have a value? You think they don't produce money?
You would use your common sense and you can use you experience in life,
and you can ask that question."
According
to Chu, this argument "addressed no material issue in this tax
case, was without evidentiary support, and violated repeated
prosecutorial pledges on which the defendant relied," and the
denial of the defendant's motion for mistrial on the basis of this
argument was reversible error under Berger v. United States, 295
U.S. 78 (1935), and United States v. Meeker [77-2
USTC ¶9604 ], 558 F.2d 387 (7th Cir. 1977).
"Although
inflammatory argument may be grounds for reversal, the government should
not be restricted to a sterile recitation of uncontroverted facts."
United States v. Scott [81-2
USTC ¶9663 ], 660 F.2d 1145, 1177 (7th Cir. 1981) (citing
United States
v. Falk [79-2
USTC ¶9597 ], 605 F.2d 1005 (7th Cir. 1979), cert. denied,
445 U.S. 903 (1980)). Further we note that "we are to consider the
prosecutor's conduct not in isolation, but in the context of the trial
as a whole, to determine if such conduct was 'so inflammatory and
prejudicial to the defendant . . . as to deprive him of a fair trial. .
. .' " United States v. Chaimson, 760 F.2d 798, 807 (7th
Cir. 1985) (quoting United States v. Zylstra, 713 F.2d 1332, 1339
(7th Cir.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 965 (1983)); see also
United States
v. Young, 105 S.Ct. 1038, 1045 (1985); Jentges v. Milwaukee
County Circuit Court, 733 F.2d 1238, 1242 (7th Cir. 1984). It is
unquestioned that the prosecutor "may prosecute with earnestness
and vigor--indeed, he should do so. But, while he may strike hard blows,
he is not at liberty to strike foul ones." Berger v. United
States, 295
U.S.
78, 88 (1935); see also
United States
v. Young, 105 S.Ct. at 1042; United States v. Chaimson, 760
F.2d at 809.
The
prosecutor's statement concerning the missing Phendimetrazine clearly
was material and proper to provide a possible source for additional
taxable income as discussed in Section II.C. above. DEA Compliance
Officer Joel Fries testified without objection that approximately
698,000 capsules of Phendimetrazine, known on the street as
"speckled birds" or "robins eggs," were unaccounted
for in the defendants' records, thus providing evidentiary support for
the government's argument. Contrary to
Chu
's contention, the quoted passage of the prosecutor's argument does not
claim that the defendants engaged in any criminal misconduct other than
the tax evasion charges they were convicted of. Rather, the prosecutor
merely noted that nearly 700,000 Phendimetrazine tablets were
unaccounted for and suggested that they had value and could produce
income; the prosecutor never even inferred, much less stated that
unrecorded sales of Phendimetrazine might be illegal. Viewed in the
context of the trial as a whole, we conclude that the quoted passage of
the prosecutor's argument was not "so inflammatory and prejudicial
to the defendant . . . as to deprive him of a fair trial." Chaimson,
760 F.2d at 809. While the prosecutor may have struck a "hard
blow," in the context of the trial it was not a "foul
blow." Accordingly, we hold that the prosecutor's closing argument
was proper, and the district court's denial of the defendants' motion
for a mistrial was not error.
V.
The
judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.
*
The Honorable Floyd R. Gibson, Senior Circuit Judge of the United States
Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, is sitting by designation.
1
The evidence introduced at trial revealed that
Chu
and Cheng evaded $11,141 in federal income tax for tax year 1977 and
$29,933 for tax year 1978.
2
After the filing of this appeal defendant Dr. Sylvia Cheng Chu, M.D.,
died, and the district court set aside and deemed abated defendant
Cheng's convictions.
3
Rob
in Zeldin analyzed the defendants' net worth for the tax years 1977 and
1978 based on the exhibits received into evidence and the testimony
offered at trial. Zeldin prepared charts which summarized the evidence
and his analysis of the defendants' financial affairs for 1977 and 1978.
4
Phendimetrazine is included on Schedule III of the federal government's
list of controlled substances. 21 C.F.R. §1308.13 (1985).
[78-2
USTC ¶9628]
United States of America
, Plaintiff-Appellee v.
Rob
ert Meyer Boulet, Defendant-Appellant
(CA-5),
U. S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit., No. 76-4442, 577 F2d 1165,
8/8/78
, Aff'g unreported District Court decision
[Code Sec. 7201--result unchanged by '76 Tax Reform Act]
Crimes: Tax evasion: Bank deposits method: Opening cash on hand.--A
doctor was properly convicted of tax evasion through use of the bank
deposits-cash expenditure method. Because the government established the
amount of cash on hand at the start of the period with reasonable
certainty and performed the duties incumbent on it in attempting to
separate taxable income from other sources in the doctor's gross
bankdeposits and cash expenditures, the question of guilt or innocence
was properly submitted to the jury.
John
P. Volz, United States Attorney, Mary Williams Cazalas, Assistant United
States Attorney, Duro J. Duplechin, Jr., Assistant United States
Attorney, John H. Musser, IV, Assistant United States Attorney, New
Orleans, Louisiana 70130, for plaintiff-appellee.
Michael
Fawer & Matthew H. Greenbaum, 1220 First NBC Building, New Orleans,
Louisiana 70112, for defendant-appellant.
Before
WISDOM, GOLDBERG and RUBIN, Circuit Judges.
ALVIN
B. RUBIN, Circuit Judge:
The
conviction in this criminal prosecution for willful evasion of income
taxes 1 was based
entirely on the government's evidence that it had reconstructed the
medical doctortaxpayer's income during the years in question by means of
the bank deposits or cash expenditures method. Because the prosecution
established the amount of cash on hand at the start of the period with
reasonable certainty and performed the duties incumbent on it in
attempting to separate taxable income from other sources in the doctor's
gross bank deposits and cash expenditures, the question of guilt or
innocence was correctly submitted to the jury by the trial court.
Therefore, the judgment of conviction is affirmed. 2
[Background]
I.
The defendant, a general practitioner of medicine, whose office was in
LaRose
,
Louisiana
, was charged with willful evasion of income taxes for the years 1969,
1970, 1971 and 1972. Dr. Boulet was on a calendar year basis. To prove
its charges, the government relied upon one of the two traditional
indirect methods of proof, analysis of the taxpayer's bank deposits and
cash expenditures. Under this method, all deposits to the taxpayer's
bank and similar accounts in a single year are added together to
determine the gross deposits. An effort is made to identify amounts
deposited that are non-taxable, such as gifts, transfers of money
between accounts, repayment of loans and cash that the taxpayer had in
his possession prior to that year that was deposited in a bank during
that year. This process is called "purification." It results
in a figure called net taxable bank deposits.
The
government agent then adds the amount of expenditures made in cash, for
example, in this case, cash the doctor received from fees, did not
deposit, but gave to his wife to buy groceries. The total of this amount
and net taxable bank deposits is deemed to equal gross income. This is
in turn reduced by the applicable deductions and exemptions. The figure
arrived at is considered to be "corrected taxable income." It
is then compared with the taxable income reported by the taxpayer on his
return. 3
In
asking the jury to rely on this analysis, as a basis for deciding that
the taxpayer willfully underestimated his true income, the government
necessarily relies on circumstantial evidence. United States v.
Marshall [77-1 USTC ¶9581], 5 Cir. 1977, 557 F. 2d 527, 530, note
3; United States v. Slutsky [73-2 USTC ¶9733], 2 Cir. 1973, 487
F. 2d 832, 839, cert. denied, 1974, 416 U. S. 937, 94 S. Ct.
1937, 40 L. Ed. 2d 287; United States v. Penosi [72-1 USTC ¶9103],
5 Cir. 1971, 452 F. 2d 217, 219-220, cert. denied, 1972, 405 U.
S. 1065, 92 S. Ct. 1495, 31 L. Ed. 2d 795; United States v. Doyle
[56-1 USTC ¶9553], 7 Cir. 1956, 234 F. 2d 788, 793, cert. denied,
1956, 352 U. S. 893, 77 S. Ct. 132, 1 L. Ed. 2d 87.
It
is part of the government's burden of proof to establish beyond a
reasonable doubt that the expenditures and deposits come from taxable
income for the very year in question. Because our income tax system is
on an annual basis, failure to report income must be charged for a
specific year. The statute of limitations applicable to prosecutions
penalizes only failure to report income for specific years. Moreover,
the indictment charges an offense for a specific year, and the proof
must conform to the indictment.
There
is always the possibility that the taxpayer deposited cash that he
received from a non-taxable source or from income taxed in a prior year
but kept on hand as cash or even from unreported income from a prior
year kept on hand in cash. Such events are common human occurrences, and
this possibility may of itself create reasonable doubt. Therefore, the
government must establish in some fashion the amount of cash the
taxpayer had on hand at the start of the period. This is part of the
government's duty to negate the possibility that bank deposits or cash
expenditures in the year under investigation originated from non-taxable
sources. United States v. Penosi, supra, 452 F. 2d at 219-220.
See United States v. Bianco [76-1 USTC ¶9351], 2 Cir. 1976, 534
F. 2d 501, 507, cert. denied, 1976, 429 U. S. 822, 97 S. Ct. 73,
50 L. Ed. 2d 84, suggesting that, in a cash expenditure case, proof of a
likely taxable source does not suffice to relieve the prosecution of its
duty to negate probable sources of non-taxable income. Compare United
States v. Massie [58-1 USTC ¶9326], 1958, 355
U. S.
595, 78 S. Ct. 495, 2 L. Ed. 2d 517 (networth method).
We,
therefore, review the record "bearing constantly in mind the
difficulties that arise when circumstantial evidence as to guilt is the
chief weapon of a method that is itself only an approximation." Holland
v. United States [54-2 USTC ¶9714], 1954, 348
U. S.
121, 129, 75 S. Ct. 127, 132, 99 L. Ed. 150. The government must prove a
full and adequate investigation in a bankdeposits case just as it must
in a net-worth case. Holland v. United States, supra. "Such
investigation must establish a guarantee of essential accuracy in the
circumstantial proof at trial as an element of the government's burden
of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. . . ." Slutsky,
supra, 487 F. 2d at 840.
[Contentions]
II.
It is contended that, in investigating Dr. Boulet, the government failed
in two particulars: (a) it did not establish with reasonable certainty
the amount of cash that he had in his personal possession, as currency,
at the start of each year; these funds were substantial and, when later
deposited in a bank account, were erroneously considered income; (b)
among his deposits were other items that were not income, such as checks
he cashed for patients; failure to delete and exclude these distorted
his apparent income. The case does not present the typical problem of an
unknown source of income: Dr. Boulet collected his fees in cash. The
source of unreported income is contended to be fees paid Dr. Boulet in
cash and not reported as income that were detected because they
eventually found their way into his bank account.
Because
the government did not, and, perhaps, could not, analyze each deposit
separately to prove that it was from a taxable source, it is the
government's dual burden to establish with reasonable certainty the cash
on hand at the beginning of each of the years in question and to negate
all other sources of non-taxable income during each of those years. United
States v. Marshall, supra. The latter requirement may be satisfied
by proof of an adequate investigation that did not disclose non-taxable
sources. United States v. Penosi, supra, 452 F. 2d at 219; see
also United States v. Mackey, 7 Cir. 1965, 345 F. 2d 499, 506, cert
denied, 1965, 382
U. S.
824, 86 S. Ct. 54, 15 L. Ed. 2d 69.
With
respect to both non-taxable sources and cash on hand, the government
must prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. However, "once the
Government has established its case, [in this fashion], the defendant
remains quiet at his peril." Holland, supra, 348
U. S.
at 138-139, 75
S. Ct.
at 137.
Having
established that it conducted a thorough investigation "the
government is not required to negate all possible non-income sources of
the deposits, particularly where the source of the income is uniquely
within the knowledge of the taxpayer. At the