The Criminal Justice System in This Country is Just That-Criminal!



The criminal justice system in this country is set up to indimidate people, even ones who are innocent of commiting any crimes, into accepting a plea bargain in order to receive a lighter sentence. Many of the 2 million people sitting in prison today never committed any crime. They just got in the way of some overzealous prosecutor who wanted to make a name for himself so that he could become a judge, a governor, or a U.S. Senator or Congressman.



In January of 2002, IRS Special Agents executed a search warrant at the home of Steven Swan of Auburn, New Hampshire. For a number of years, Swan had been a promoter of the income tax theories of nationally-known income tax protester Irwin Schiff of Las Vegas, Nevada. At the time of the search, Swan was also informed that he was a target of a federal criminal investigation for alleged violations of the internal revenue laws.



Since Swan had no money, he asked for and received a court-appointed attorney to advise him. The attorney suggested that since Swan had not yet been indicted, the attorney should contact the Justice Department about making a deal. Because Swan did not believe that that he had "willfully" violated any tax laws, a prerequisite before he could be convicted of many tax crimes, he was not interested in making a deal. However, he was interested in what the Justice Department had to say about the matter. So he agreed to let his attorney contact the Justice Department on his behalf.



About a month later, the Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) handling the case contacted Swan's attorney and informed him that if Swan were to plead guilty to some unspecified tax crime, the Justice Department would recommend to the court that Swan only receive 2 and a half years in prison. Otherwise, according to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the attorney told Swan that if he went to court and lost, he would be likely to receive 6 and a half to 8 years in prison. Since Swan did not believe that he was guilty of any tax crime, he told his attorney to tell the AUSA to forget it. Swan then promptly fired his attorney.



On March 5, 2003, a federal grand jury (which is really just another tool of the U.S. Attorney's office, hence the saying that "any prosecutor can even indict a ham sandwich") indicted Swan on 18 felony counts of alleged violations of the internal revenue laws. Each count carries a maximum of up to 3 years in prison and up to a 0,000 fine. So because Swan refused to accept a plea bargain in the first place, he is now facing up to 54 years in prison and a fine of and a half million! Not bad for a man that doesn't have two nickels to rub together.



Swan does not intend to plead guilty to crimes that he does not believe he has committed. For more information on this, interested parties can go to Swan's Web site www.zeroincometax.com. Swan can be contacted at (603) 483-0550. His e-mail address is stevenswan@earthlink.net.