Hovind Uncaged™


taxes

The goofy ol’ creationist is being released from prison next week, on 8 July. He’s on home confinement for a month, so he won’t be jetting about spewing nonsense to the world at large for a little longer, and then he’s on probation for five more years, during which he has to ask the court’s permission to travel out of state. I can’t imagine any judge being so spiteful as to deny him travel (what would be the purpose), so expect fresh bullshit from a gleeful lecture tour later this summer.

Come on up Minnesota way, Kent! We need your tried and true gobbledygook to laugh at!

Comments

  1. Azkyroth, B*Cos[F(u)]==Y says

    We need your tried and true gobbledygook to laugh at!

    Noice!

  2. Doc Bill says

    It will be interesting to see how he meshes with his evil spawn, Eric, who seems to be running a tax-legit creationist racket. Will Daddy Hovind fuck it all up? Time will tell!

  3. anteprepro says

    Will Kent Hovind’s lecture circuit be about:
    A. Strict flat earth 6000 year old geocentric dinosaurtastic metaphor-phobic True American Protestant Biblical Creationism.
    B. How the filthy libruls conspired to persecute and destroy him.
    C. Recruiting more Tax Fraudsters for Jesus.
    D. A and B.
    E. B and C.
    F. A and C.
    G. A, B, and C.

  4. whheydt says

    It would be just like Hovind to go traveling early on during probation without asking permission first…and getting caught at it.

    In addition, what are the chances that he’ll fire up another tax evasion scheme…and get caught at that?

    Does anyone know what the outcome of the trial over the liens he tried to put on his former property in violation of a court order came out? Has he been sentenced for that nonsense yet?

  5. anteprepro says

    Hovind should totally become either a stand-up comedian, wrestler, or both, so that he can legitimately name one of his events “Hovind Uncaged”. It just has a great ring to it. It really resonates with me. Maybe if Quentin Tarantino does a biopic film on Hovind, it will have that title. Bet they could have a scene where Hovind rips off PZ’s tentacles and uses them to strangle a T-Rex.

  6. chigau (違う) says

    PZ!
    Put a ™ on the thread title.
    If he uses ‘Hovind Uncaged’, he’ll owe you royalties.

  7. anteprepro says

    *Sees chigau’s comment*
    *Checks post title*
    *Literally laughs out loud*

  8. NYC atheist says

    @6 Tony

    ‘I live in Pensacola’

    I’m sorry.

    I went to that goofy ‘college’ back in the mid 2000s. Wasn’t a fan then, when I was a Christian.

  9. grumpyoldfart says

    Do you think the mugs in the pews have woken up yet, or will they start chucking money at him again?

  10. Saganite, a haunter of demons says

    I thought he was found guilty of contempt or something earlier this year and might’ve faced another ten years or so? I’ll have to read up on that and why he is being released now instead.

  11. Saganite, a haunter of demons says

    From Wikipedia:

    On Monday, May 18, 2015, the U.S. District Court made two decisions. First, the Court granted the prosecutor’s request for a “without prejudice” dismissal of the three remaining charges against Hovind, allowing the prosecutor to go back to a Federal grand jury and seek a new indictment if desired.[169] Second, the Court rendered a judgment of acquittal on the criminal contempt charge on which Hovind had been found guilty by the jury. On that point, the Court concluded that in the specific order that Hovind had been found guilty of violating, there was no actual language that prohibited Hovind from doing anything.[170][171]

    Seems the charges that he was found guilty of earlier were dismissed later on in the proceedings.

  12. weatherwax says

    “He’s on home confinement for a month, so he won’t be jetting about spewing nonsense to the world at large for a little longer, and then he’s on probation for five more years, during which he has to ask the court’s permission to travel out of state.”

    Willing to bet, as de facto Sovereign, he’ll completely ignore those requirements.

  13. says

    He’ll have a new “argument”, too, I’ll wager: belief in evolution caused gay “marriage”. Not only was it not Adam and Steve as God created them, but it was certainly, absolutely not Adam and Mrs. (Steve) Adam.

    You heard it here first.

  14. says

    I can’t imagine any judge being so spiteful as to deny him travel

    No, but as others mention above, I can imagine Hovind arrogant enough to travel without permission.

    He went to prison because he thought he was above the law. Why would he think differently now?

  15. says

    I find nine years in prison extraordinarily harsh for a non-violent offence. Especially when you consider that it’s nine times what the Steubenville rapists got.

    Is Hovind an arrogant cheating douche-bag? Yes. Did this justify locking him in a cage for (perhaps) 10% of his total lifespan? No.

  16. says

    Hovind’s probation is three years, not five, during which time he will likely be required to hold down a W2 job (like his wife, when she got out of jail from the same charges), and will be barred from traveling outside his home area unless he obtains permission from his probation officer.

    So, it’s very unlikely he will be resuming his full time creation ministry any time soon. though the “miracle” of the Internet will no doubt make it possible for him to get up to many of his old tricks without freedom to travel.

    Hovind is still in total denial as to his guilt, still believing that the IRS has no claim on any of his property or money, and while the recent charges against him were dropped, he has vowed to continue fighting to have his original conviction overturned on release. He actually continues to believe that the government will one day be required to return all the confiscated land and cash, and that they will have to compensate him for his time in jail.

    Hovind hasn’t filed a single 1040 tax return in over 30 years, so I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he refuses to remain in compliance with the terms and conditions of his probation over the next three years. His time in prison has done nothing to shake his absolute conviction as a tax protester, and he continues to be advised by other well known protesters, like Paul Hansen and Ernie Land, so another stint behind bars is always a possibility.

    His partner in crime and fellow sovereign citizen/tax protester, Paul Hansen is still in jail facing five to six years in prison for his conviction for helping Hovind file legal documents to cloud the title of the land confiscated by the IRS. His plight isn’t helped by the fact that he refused a court order to travel from Nebraska to Florida to have his fingerprints taken. He’s also continuing to attempt a sovcit jurisdictional defense (i.e. the federal government had no right to come onto his private property and arrest him), so his prospects of having his convictions overturned like Hovind would seem to be quite slim.

    Perhaps the most entertaining part of this train wreck is the Rudy Davis’s “lonestar1776” YouTube channel. He’s been posting almost daily updates about Hovind’s situation, regularly calling down the judgement of God upon the prosecutors and judge involved in Hovind’s case, as well as any BOP personnel responsible for Hovind ending up in solitary for much of the last month. He and his fellow “Hovindicators” are convinced there is a vast government conspiracy, up to and including Eric Holder, to keep Hovind locked up for life to prevent his anti-government, creationist message from being heard. They also believe someone might try to kill Hovind before or on his release date.

    We can also look forward to hearing more on Hovind’s prescription for prison reform — i.e. abolish the prison system entirely and replace it with a selection of three sentences: fines, flogging, or death. In other words — Sharia Law in America.

  17. says

    I find nine years in prison extraordinarily harsh for a non-violent offence.

    Yeah, ironically, if the US had reformed the criminal justice system the way most liberals want, Hovind would have spent a lot less time in jail, and I’m fine with that even though I have very little sympathy for the unrepentant fool.

    The reason the book was thrown at Hovind was his total denial of wrongdoing, and his steadfast refusal to cooperate with the IRS. If he had shown any signs of wanting to cooperate to settle his tax issues, it’s quite likely he wouldn’t have gone to jail at all, perhaps receiving a suspended sentence instead.

    Comparing sentences with other cases is mostly useless, given the unreliable and inequitable nature of the US criminal justice system. There will always be cases where the guilty got too much or too little time in jail you can compare a prisoner’s plight with. That’s what happens when you have seven times the number of people in jail (per capita) than the average European nation. The entire system needs a massive overhaul.

  18. says

    tacitus:

    Comparing sentences with other cases is mostly useless, given the unreliable and inequitable nature of the US criminal justice system. There will always be cases where the guilty got too much or too little time in jail you can compare a prisoner’s plight with. That’s what happens when you have seven times the number of people in jail (per capita) than the average European nation. The entire system needs a massive overhaul.

    I agree that the entire system needs a massive overhaul, and that Steubenville is just one case. However I think there’s a systemic flaw in the criminal justice system worldwide in that it doesn’t make a big enough distinction between predatory and non-predatory offenses. Any system that results in a non-violent thief (even if unrepentant and uncooperative) receiving more punishment than a rapist is fundamentally broken.

  19. Saganite, a haunter of demons says

    Can’t help but agree with the sentiment that Hovind will get himself in trouble again sooner rather than later.
    Perhaps he’s smart enough to avoid it during probation, but he’s completely unrepentant. Either immediately (which could cost him several more years of freedom) or soon after the probation’s end he’ll continue.
    I’m kind of trying to think of this from his perspective: He must see the courts and the state as evil oppressors, fair enough. But even then, you’d think that the threat of further consequences might cause him to change his behaviour, albeit maybe not his views. Or perhaps he views himself as a kind of martyr who is willing to take the unjust punishment for his principles or the greater good.
    March on, you poor fool, right back into prison, presumably.

  20. david says

    Violent crime should not automatically be treated more harshly than financial crimes. In some ways, financial crimes cause greater damage to society as a whole. There’s also a bias issue in play: violent crimes tend to be committed by poor people, and financial crimes tend to be committed by wealthy people. Perhaps because the financial criminal starts from a position of societal privilege, the penalty should be harsh. This is not to excuse or downplay the acts of violent crimes, but rather to point out that comparing the harshness of penalties should take into account a broad context including the starting point of the criminal and the impact of the crime on both the particular victim and on society as a whole.

    Hovind got what he deserved.

  21. says

    @hyperdeath:

    However I think there’s a systemic flaw in the criminal justice system worldwide in that it doesn’t make a big enough distinction between predatory and non-predatory offenses.

    I haven’t studied that particular issue enough to comment. All I know is that if the US system ran along the same lines as most other western nations, we’d eventually be able to close six out of every seven prisons in the country. There are far too many custodial sentences period, and many of them are far too long, whether or not there are direct victims.

    Hovind is an interesting case. I suspect he was destined for prison no matter how long his original sentence was. If he’d have spent only 6 months in jail, the odds are he would have been back in front of the judge again soon enough, since he would have been utterly convinced he was in the right. It’s possible that after 8 years in jail, he will listen to his family and do what’s necessary to stay out of trouble, but it’s by no means certain.

    So, while I have no interest in having my tax money spent on keeping Hovind behind bars any longer than absolutely necessary, in his particular case, I’m not sure how it could have been avoided, eventually.

  22. says

    Will Kent Hovind’s lecture circuit be about:
    A. Strict flat earth 6000 year old geocentric dinosaurtastic metaphor-phobic True American Protestant Biblical Creationism.
    B. How the filthy libruls conspired to persecute and destroy him.
    C. Recruiting more Tax Fraudsters for Jesus.

    He’s also promising to campaign for prison reform after his release, but as I mentioned in my first comment on this thread, his idea of reform (culled from the Bible, of course) is just as batty as his creationist nonsense.

  23. says

    Is it that time already? My, how time flies when you’re Kent Hovind, a convicted felon in federal prison.

    I’d drive to Pensacola to witness him climbing atop a martyrs cross.

  24. says

    I think its wrong headed to punish non-violent crime less harsh then violent, think about all the time Wasted by the gov, and tine is money, think about all the millions that could have glne to cancer research or to save lives because that pot hole was fixed.

  25. Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says

    Wasted by the gov, and tine is money, think about all the millions that could have glne to cancer research or to save lives because that pot hole was fixed.

    Nope, all sovereign citizens should be behind bars until they admit they must obey the state and federal laws, and especially tax laws. Otherwise, they hurt those who obey the laws….I was damaged by Hovind.