The description of the end of the Hovind trial from the Pensacola News Journal can be found below the fold. Foolish little man.
Pensacola evangelist and tax protester Kent Hovind winked at his wife and gave her a reassuring smile as he was led away to jail.
Jo Hovind clutched the necktie he had been wearing. She kept her eyes on her husband until he was out of sight.
A 12-person jury deliberated for 2½ hours on Thursday before finding the couple guilty of all counts in their tax-fraud case.
Kent Hovind, founder of Creation Science Evangelism and Dinosaur Adventure Land in Pensacola, was found guilty of 58 counts, including failure to pay $845,000 in employee-related taxes. He faces a maximum of 288 years in prison.
Jo Hovind was charged and convicted in 44 of the counts involving evading bank-reporting requirements. She faces up to 225 years in prison but was allowed to remain free pending the couple’s sentencing on Jan. 9.
Kent Hovind briefly held onto her arm as the verdict was read. Neither reacted at first. But minutes later, she held her face in her hands.
“Nobody likes to pay taxes,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Heldmyer said in her closing argument. “But we do because it’s the law, and he is not above the law.”
The jury also granted the prosecution’s request for the Hovinds to forfeit $430,400. That amount equals the value of the checks signed and cashed by Jo Hovind in the 44 counts.
U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers released Jo Hovind until sentencing but denied Kent Hovind’s request to be released. He most likely will be detained at either Escambia County Jail or Santa Rosa County Jail until sentencing.
Heldmyer said Kent Hovind was a flight risk and a “danger to the community.”
His attorney, Alan Richey, argued that the Internal Revenue Service pursued his client because of his religious beliefs.
Kent Hovind, whose life’s mission is to debunk evolution, says he and his employees are workers of God and therefore exempt from paying taxes. He pays his employees in cash and does not withhold their taxes or pay his share as an employer.
“There’s a difference between wrong and committing a crime,” Richey said in his closing argument. “You can do all the wrong things you want and still not commit a crime.”
Jo Hovind’s attorney, Jerold Barringer, argued that his client was a simple piano teacher and grandmother who was not aware of bank-reporting regulations concerning large amounts of cash. Any cash transaction at a bank more than $10,000 triggers a currency-transaction report forwarded to the IRS. She was found guilty of using several methods to take out just enough money to avoid triggering the report.
The Hovinds and their attorneys declined comment. Their supporters, who took up most of the six rows in Rodgers’ courtroom, dwindled in number as the day went on.
Jo Hovind’s son, Kent Andrew Hovind, and two women escorted her out of the U.S. District Courthouse in downtown Pensacola.
Richard Hogan, an acquaintance of Kent Hovind who observed the last day of the two-week trial, said he felt especially bad for Jo Hovind.
“He was the leader, and she probably went along with him,” said Hogan, 53. He first met the Hovinds when their children were homeschooled.
“It’s pretty tough to fight Goliath,” Hogan said. “The first time the IRS calls, you should go ahead and deal with it. It didn’t have to come down to this.”
*boggle*
uh, am I misunderstanding this, or did that attorney just sum up the moral basis of the entire christian right?
Here is my open letter to Conservative christians:
http://tomstream.blogspot.com/2006/10/leap-of-faith.html
Oh glorious SchadenFreude!
To steal an idea from another commenter (I think corkscrew but I could be wrong), It’s not just the law that should drive you to pay taxes, it is a civic duty to support the services our government supplies that should be a motive.
While the images of Jo Hovind clutching his tie may spur some emotions, let’s not forget what a fraud Hovind is. He’s crime affects each and every one of us. Leaving his misguided views on science aside, when he cheats on his taxes, he cheats us all.
Sadly, there’s something in the psychology of some women, to go along with the absurdities of their men. I have relatives, women with college degrees, who get led into all manner of YEC tax-protesting UN-conspiracy nonsense because of their idiot husbands.
From the comments under the article:
“Although Kent Hovind is a Brilliant Creationist…”
ROTFLMAO.
“Brilliant Creationist” – I thought I’d heard all the oxymorons by now.
“There’s a difference between wrong and committing a crime,” Richey said in his closing argument. “You can do all the wrong things you want and still not commit a crime.”
I guess Richey will be representing Ted “Punish-the-Homos” Haggard next.
Their supporters, who took up most of the six rows in Rodgers’ courtroom, dwindled in number as the day went on.
Well, that’s interesting.
There’s something in the psychology of some women, to go along with the absurdities of their men.
Absolutely. And there’s a lot of peer pressure from these women against–ahem–other women to be more like them. And there’s something in the psychology of the parents of these women to teach them submission, and then wonder why if they follow a man into trouble.
Pity. (snark…)
Welcome to Jury-Ass-Kick Park!
Looks like the Hovind Crime Family is finally put out of business.
Yeah?
I don’t mind paying taxes and sure do like it better than the alternative every time I leave the driveway and head out of the subdivision on the socialist roads.
That is what The Behe Defence gets you.
‘”I am quite skeptical, although I haven’t read them, that in fact” [these tax notes] “present detailed rigorous models for the evolution” of the amounts that I owe the community. ‘
Though imprisonment is the least bad way to deal with some problems, it’s still a bad way. That Hovind deserves the badness doesn’t make it good. We shouldn’t make fun.
Welcome to Jury-Ass-Kick Park!
LOL!
Double entendres are two intents.
Have people read the comments to the article? Why do people argue if there is any right according to the Bible to avoid paying taxes? It doesn’t matter – separation of church and state, and all that, and trying to use religious arguments only give the religious nuts (which I certainly don’t consider all religious people to be) some credibility.
Though imprisonment is the least bad way to deal with some problems, it’s still a bad way. That Hovind deserves the badness doesn’t make it good. We shouldn’t make fun.
Delivered from the department of oxymorons. How about I make fun of you instead, you silly twit? That Hovind is, well, Hovind, is a bad thing. That he is getting what he deserves is a good thing.
Why do people argue if there is any right according to the Bible to avoid paying taxes?
Because their minds are polluted with fundie Christian memes.
Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, eh Kent?
Well I’m in two minds about this.
1) I am no fan of Hovind, and it would appear he has recieved his just desserts for his tax evasion. I’m pleased that the US IRS have been able to bring Hovind to justice on this issue. Taxes are our civic duty, regardless of how we feel about them. Hovind isn’t living in some backwood in a hut he built himself, he uses federal facilities, he should pay.
2) I can’t really muster a great wave of schadenfreude at seeing Hovind get busted. His type are perpetual martyrs. Whatever he gets justifiably sent to gaol for is just going to be spun as the forces of satan trying to silence his ministry. You know that’s bollocks. I know that’s bollocks. Hell, Hovind probably knows that’s bollocks. But do the gullible fools that admire and follow Hovind know it’s bollocks? Besides, I’m no good at schhadenfreude, I can’t really be arsed to feel pleasure at the justified incarceration of some lunatic god botherer for tax evasion. It’s briefly amusing because he’s such a loon bag, but not really much more significant than a grin and a chuckle over a pint.
Louis
foolish little man
I think it’s probably better to leave out the “little”. It isn’t so nice for people who are short to have being little equated with being a lesser person.
288 years? Compare with the Enron folks. I realize the IRS wants to come down hard on tax protesters, but that’s an absurd sentence possibility. If you think it isn’t, compare with violent crime guidelines. Similarly, if someone is up for 225 years in jail, why are they free, pending? There’s something really screwed up in sentencing here, and even if these people are nutjobs, that doesn’t justify it.
288 years? Compare with the Enron folks. I realize the IRS wants to come down hard on tax protesters, but that’s an absurd sentence possibility.
Don’t be a silly twit. It’s only a sentence possibility because he was found guilty on 58 counts. It’s math, not IRS intent. The fact is that he’ll only get a few years.
There’s something really screwed up in sentencing here
Amazing how quickly you went from “sentencing possibility” to “sentencing”. I suggest you get your brain replaced, as it’s not functioning very well.
[i]288 years? Compare that with the longest people are known to live. I realize the IRS wants to come down hard on tax protesters, but that’s an absurd sentence possibility.[/i]
Fortunately, artificial totals calculated by summing from some table over the list of crimes committed are indeed artificial. Judges are well aware that this generates possibilities that are indeed absurd. I would put money on Hovind being sentenced to less than 10 years.
…..288 years?
Bah. Since Jesus will Rapture ol’ Kent up within a few months, there is no need to feel sorry for the dude.
I’m just worried about seven years from now, when Kent and his wife return with Jesus in the clouds to slaughter we infidels who remain.
Although…come to think of it…they’ll be on horses and armed with swords, while I’ll be on a motorcycle armed with a Glock….
At CSE Blogs on Hovind in jail,
We do not know the Lord’s purpose in this, but we know that our Lord is in charge.
My message is to those who support or sympathise with “Dr” Hovind. Hopefully it’s true true to say (and indeed, some of you specifically state) that you can tell at least something of a man from the kind of criticism he receives. If a Christian is attacked by “the world” or by “the Government”, whether the attack is on his doctrine or just his finances, I see that you choose to paint that attack as either “diabolical” or as “just those heathen Bible haters” having their way with a “man of God”.
Perhaps. You could argue that point.
But when someone like Hovind attracts the unabating scorn of other young earth creationist movements, not to mention major Christian denominations, not to mention totally impartial Christian figures; learned men, of good will who love God and only want to see the Great Commission fulfilled… Friend, when the fake “Doctor” Hovind attracts that kind of criticism for year upon year, don’t you ever, in the depths of a sleepless night perhaps, think that the man in whom you’ve given your trust (and evidently, a stack of money), might have been wrong? That he has ensured that the Cause of Faith you support is being mocked and stunted by the hypocrisy and mealy-mouthed greed Hovind has allowed to be associated with the name of Jesus Christ?
Kent Hovind will be infamous, forever, as one of the biggest humbugs to ever stain the name of Christianity with his transparent, prideful, lies. In being convicted, and hopefully jailed for years and years and years, he has now gotten EXACTLY what he deserved. Don’t try to paint this as some kind of miscarriage of justice, as some fiendish conspiracy. Don’t make Hovind into a martyr. He’s not. Christians and non-Christians alike have outed Hovind as a loud-mouthed fraud for years. This ignoble end to his career and his prosperity is not in the least surprising.
If you support Hovind, then you share in his shame. Pity him, yes. Pity the impact this conviction will have on his family. Think that Hovind himself could have spared the pain and shame he now brings down upon them if only he had paid his taxes. Walk away. Reflect a little on the consequence of HIS actions, not the IRS’s, and do as you ought to as Christians; shake the dust from your shoes and have nothing to do with him again. He had been warned, privately and then publicly, as the Bible demands. He willfully ignored the counsel on every occasion and this is now the judgement that has been delivered against him. This isn’t some end time tribulation against the faithful. This was a criminal trial of a man who is now legitimately labelled a “criminal”. Stop rationalising your guilty association with Hovind away; he’s fooled you too!
If the coincidence connection hasn’t already been made yet then let me spell it out. Ted Haggart. Kent Hovind. Both had miles of smiles and a smooth delivery that made people open their hearts and open their wallets. Both men have now caused the Body of Christ immeasurable harm, causing the Truth of our Faith to be ridiculed and scorned, crucifying Jesus all over again.
I think ‘truth machine’ should have a bit of legal education before deciding that ‘possibility’ doesn’t matter. Either that, or s/he should go get busted for, say, interstate transport, and see how the FSG for nonviolent crime work out for them. The attempted distinction between “sentencing possibility” and “sentencing” is nonsensical – it hasn’t happened yet. I was discussing a range that I find absurd. My mechanistic opponent is attempting to ascribe to me an assumption of the maximum possibility, and then attacking that. That’s the sort of rhetorical behaviour I’d expect from a creationist.
If you don’t think the IRS as an institution has had anything to do with the weighting of federal criminal penalties, well, that’s fine. Similar logic leads one to believe that regulatory capture plays no role in any other governmental agency.
Yours,
— silly twit
Just to be completely clear – I’m not defending Hovind. I think he’s scum, right up there with Dobson and the rest of the bunch of liars. I just think the facts of the case (which, in a moral society, must be construed narrowly) cannot reasonably support the sort of sentence he is facing. If you disagree, compare tax evasion with criminal statutory rape in the guidelines, and tell me if you think what he did is worse than that.
If you disagree, compare tax evasion with criminal statutory rape in the guidelines, and tell me if you think what he did is worse than that.
I had trouble making sense of the guidelines. What’s the maximum penalty for statutory rape, assuming that all the aggravating factors are in play?
Anyway, like everyone is saying, the 288-year sentence is a consequence of being convicted on 44 different counts. It seems like the maximum sentence for each individual count is averaging 5-6 years. If he’d been convicted on 44 counts of statutory rape, I’d imagine he’d be facing even more than 288 years.
We could certainly adjust the sentencing rules to eliminate the possibility of such long sentences…we’d start with a 5-6 year maximum for the first conviction, but halve the sentence for each additional conviction in the same trial. (So Hovind would be facing a maximum penalty of 10-12 years.)
That’s certainly a valid way of doing thing. You can write your Congressman if you think it’s a good idea.
The catch is that it would be hard for legislators to vote for it. Imagine the commercials at the next election: “Congressman X voted to reduce sentences for repeat offenders! Even child molestors! Why is Congressman X so soft on crime?”
I guess the moral of the story is that you shouldn’t commit crimes, and if you have to commit crimes, then you shouldn’t commit too many of them.
Good to see that some branches of the US government are still functioning … Of course, the nut might appeal …
*sniggers* I guess they jury actually consisted of the few percent of “evolutionist” atheists you can find in the Florida panhandle.
Whatever will become of Dinosaur Adventure Land?
I don’t understand all the guidelines either, but frankly my inclination is that what Hovind did is indeed worse than the sort of “statutory rape” where the only way the encounter can be construed as nonconsensual is on the sole basis of the participants’ ages. It is not worse than the sort which would still be considered forced or otherwise abusive if the participants had all been of legal age. Since, to the best of my knowledge, our legal system extensively and willfully conflates those scenarios (I know pop culture and the media certainly do), I’m not sure “statutory rape” is a useful or meaningful comparison for severity of a crime.
*sits back, waiting for the inevitable barrage of Epimethean inanity attempting to construe the above as an endorsement of sex between minors and adults…be my guest, I could use a good laugh…*
Not oxy- (“sharp”), just moron.
On another note, the method of adding punishments to arrive at centuries of jail time is not used worldwide. The USA and Spain do it, but I think most other countries don’t.
On yet another note, who was Epimetheus again?
Speaking as someone who was researching copyright law earlier this year, I can say with certainty that many, many laws regarding intellectual property and doing right by your government (such as Tax Evasion) have ridiculously high penalties not because the punishment is measured out to make recompense for the crime, but because the punishment is supposed to be a deterrent for the crime.
The kind of people who Tax Evade are classically not the kind of people who live with the threat of prison over their heads every day, so this disincentive might actually work.
My impression had always been that the preposterous penalties for intellectual property infringement were mostly due to a combination of misguided public sentiment and to congresspeople being out of the typical consumer’s price range. But ok…
David, Epimetheus (“After Thought”) was the less-brilliant brother of the titan Prometheus, and was the husband of the infamous Pandora. He (Epimetheus) strove to create, exactly like his brother, but, all of the creatures and peoples he created were flawed in one way, or another, because of his own lack of forethought and carelessness. And as such, Prometheus was always helping to correct his mistakes.
And it’s specifically the connotation of acting (or speaking) BEFORE thinking (or, at least, before thinking things through) that I’m referencing with the adjective “Epimethean.” Compare “knee-jerk,” “gut reaction,” or, in context, furious typer.
Or just people who weren’t complete morons!
I think that what got Hovind started down this road in the first place is that he is just as bad at running a business as he is at everything else – if he’d paid his taxes he would have gone bankrupt before he’d been in operation for a year.
MAY GOD BE THE JUDGE OF EVERYTHING. HE IS JUST.
God’s justice (if any) seems to be relegated to the next life. We have to deal with this one. Phrases like “may god be the judge of everything” are either meaningless noises or implications that mere mortals shouldn’t be the judge of anything–that there shouldn’t be police or courts or prisons, that the best thug should win.
I think it’s horrible that some people want to relate the outcome of this trial, for alleged tax evasion, to the validity of creationism. That’s absolutely moronic. He was found guilty for something completely unrelated. Yet some people, from opposing points of view I might add, take delight in his current problems and then turn them into ammo against his claims and beliefs. If you don’t agree with creationism then fine… hash it out scientifically and leave the crap flinging to the monkies.
It is true that the trial itself says nothing about the (in)validity of creationism. People should demonstrate the invalidity of creationism on other grounds. However it does demonstrate that Hovind was using creationism as means to rob Christians and taxpayers alike.
To me it is somewhat ironical that atheists such as myself rejoice at his downfall, when in fact it is Christians – and not atheists – who have been his primary victims all along.
All of you talk big and nasty about the Hovinds but not one of you would have a chance to defeat him in a debate on evolution. Your reasoning is faulty and similar to a lot of debates in which name calling rather than logic is used. Yes, he probably made a big mistake but which one of you have not made mistakes. Still he is a good man of strong convictions and of great character. God loves you and I pray he blesses each and everyone of you.
How unmerciful are you men, as though you never sinned or needed God’s mercy yourselves, even supposing that Hovind is prosecuted for the sake of his sins. How arrogant and insensitive of your own needs to heap upon such a man such a torrent of abuse and malevolence! You talk of him as such a fraud and charlatan, when not one dared raise up a voice against his in debate, lest you be afforded the accountability of the truth absent from a place such as this. I’ve seen Hovind in debate, and he’d make fools of you all. He was an excellent man with an excellent spirit, and while my jury is out on this whole cause of prosecution, seeing no problem with paying taxes, yet I know that an excellent and godly defender of the truth has been jailed, and that is a tragedy of huge proportions. So bury me with him with your abuse and scorn…. I stand with Hovind. He’s a man of God, despite whatever errors, and I will forever cherish the recollection of his clear voice which silenced the stupidity and presumption of the blinded pupils of Darwin.
google video-‘from freedom to facism’ p.s.- no mention of sep of ch. and state in Constitution.
Hey Charles – Bite me.
Meanwhile, anybody know the status of Dr. Turd-Brain? He was supposed to be sentenced Jan 9, and I have the champagne already chilled…
ohhhh… nope it’s on the 19th not the 9th.
If you guys actually listened to what he has to say you might learn something… Like the truth. I don not agree with his avoidence of the IRS that is his issue, but we all make mistakes and wrong judgment calls. You guys just heard of him and looked for anyway you can to hang him.
288 years! They really hated this guy, didn’t they?. Clearcut religious persecution if you ask me. Even if he had been a crook, which I doubt, a little dumb maybe, but not a crook, then what is the purpose of locking up people like this? They go broke and the govt gets nothing! Of course, the govt don’t need the money anyway, they can prist whatever they want to have, so in this case that leaves us with only one option: persecution by dedicated anti-christs.
so in this case that leaves us with only one option: persecution by dedicated anti-christs.
Back. Away. Slowly.
Who are the real crooks? This stupid war is costing $341.4 million per day. Hovind is spreading the word of god better than and tax exempt church. I bet you people have never heard a word he teaches but yet you are going to judge him. Like Roy Wood said, “not one of you would have a chance to defeat him in a debate on evolution.” Wake up and look at the world you are living in! There is evidence of creation everywhere!
Actually, I believe that would be U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers.
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