Kent Hovind sentenced to 10 years in prison
Pensacola evangelist Kent Hovind was sentenced Friday afternoon to 10 years in prison on charges of tax fraud.I've added a label for Kent Hovind.
After a lengthy sentencing hearing that last 5 1/2 hours, U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers ordered Hovind also:
-- Pay $640,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
-- Pay the prosecution’s court costs of $7,078.
-- Serve three years parole once he is released from prison.
Hovind’s wife, Jo Hovind, also was scheduled to be sentenced. Rodgers postponed her sentencing until March 1 to allow her defense attorney an opportunity to argue possible discrepancies in sentencing guidelines.
UPDATE (January 21, 2007): Ed Brayton points out that Hovind, at his sentencing, suddenly adopted a newly-found meekness:
Before his sentencing, a tearful Kent Hovind compared his situation to that of the lion and the mouse in Aesop's Fables."I feel like the mouse," Hovind told U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers. "I stand here in great fear of the power of this court. Your decision can destroy my life, my ministry and my grandchildren."
This contrasted with his earlier bluster in telephone calls from jail:
In a recording of one of the telephone conversations played in court Friday, Hovind said the Internal Revenue Service, presiding judge and prosecutor broke the law by going after him, and there were things he could do "to make their lives miserable."
Comparing himself to a buffalo in a lion fight, Hovind's voice was heard saying "As long as I have some horns, I'm going to swing. As long as I have some hoofs, I'm going to kick. As long as I have some teeth, I'm going to fight. The lion's going to know he's been in a fight."
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3 comments:
So Hovind was sentenced almost as long as the gangster Al Capone, likewise for tax evasion.
Instead of this hugely expensive prosecution and imprisonment, the IRS probably would have got Hovind to repay if only Obama had nominated him for a cabinet post :P Indeed, maybe Hovind instead of fellow tax cheat Geithner could even be put in oversight of the IRS itself!
Not sure you are actually making any kind of argument there... surely you don't mean to defend Hovind.
Hovind was clearly a tax cheat who was guilty as charged. His tax evasion was clearly willful.
He wasn't charged with anything with respect to his creationism, but the guy was one of the most dishonest people on the young-earth creationist lecture circuit. He regularly made use of arguments that your organization has identified as arguments that creationists should not use.
No, I certainly don't defend Hovind's tax evasion. And I think Hovind was letting down the creation cause by getting so embroiled in this, even if he were right.
CMI was critical of some of his arguments, while for some reason, AiG has removed that page—as well as commendation of that page from one of their own scientists.
This doesn't mean that I can't criticize the sentence, almost as long as Capone's and longer than some violent criminals', as wildly excessive, and point out the double standards given all Obama's tax cheats. And as an Australian, I wonder why Americans celebrate every 4 July a revolution against paying a mere 2.5% tax ;)
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