State v. Souza

Opinion of the Court by

NAKAMURA, J.

Defendant-Appellant John P. Souza (Sou-za) appeals his convictions for willfully 1 filing false tax returns and for theft by deception of the tax refunds he received. At trial, Souza sought to introduce documentary evidence which he claimed would show that based on his good-faith understanding of the tax laws, he did not believe his tax returns were false. The Circuit Court of the First Circuit (circuit court) 2 excluded the evidence on the grounds that Souza’s tax theories were irrelevant and would confuse the jury. The circuit court concluded that Souza’s…