United States v. Leonard L. Payne

McWILLIAMS, Circuit Judge.

Leonard L. Payne was found guilty by a jury on four counts of failure to file income tax returns for the years 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1982, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7203. Payne was sentenced to one year imprisonment on the first count, fined $5,000 on the second count, fined an additional $5,000 on the third count and placed on three years probation on the fourth count.

On appeal, Payne urges two grounds for reversal: (1) The trial court’s instruction on “good faith misunderstanding” was misleading and improper; (2) the trial court erroneously allowed the government…