More Income Tax
U.S. Marshals arrested tax protesters Ed and Elaine Brown at their Plainfield home yesterday, ending the couple's eight-month standoff without bloodshed. The Browns vowed never to be taken alive, but U.S. Marshal Stephen Monier said yesterday that both Browns were arrested without incident on their property around 7:45 p.m.
"The Browns may now begin serving their 63-month federal prison terms," Monier said in a written statement last night. A representative for the marshals refused to answer any questions about the arrests last night.
"High-profile situations like this are always difficult, but they don't have to be tragic. I'm glad no one was injured, and that the community remained safe throughout the operation," Monier said.
Marshals will hold a press briefing this morning to provide details about the arrests. According to the statement, the Browns have already been turned over to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to begin serving their sentences.
The Browns were convicted of a series of tax-related crimes in January and had both been sentenced in absentia to 63 months in prison. But they have avoided capture, remaining holed up in their solar powered concrete home for months, where they have made repeated public threats of violence and have entertained a large and rotating cast of supporters.
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A jury found that the couple had conspired to hide the nearly $2 million that Elaine Brown earned as a dentist over nearly a decade, but the couple maintained that no law compelled them to pay federal income taxes. They described their lengthy standoff as a stand against an unjust court system that was keeping the truth about the tax system from most Americans.
The couple defended themselves at trial, promising to show jurors not only their innocence, but the truth of their legal views. When the judge showed them a copy of jury instructions in their case that they said ensured they could not get a fair trial, they stopped attending the proceedings.
Elaine Brown ultimately returned to court, but Ed Brown sent an e-mail to his friends warning that the situation was likely to turn into "another Waco."
Last night, word of the Browns' arrests began to spread on blogs and message boards where supporters communicate. In a message posted to Ed and Elaine's MySpace page, Jim Hobbs of Phoenix, who lived with the couple for several weeks this summer, wrote: "This site shows 5116 friends. How many of you are just going to sit back and do nothing and how many of you will take action. ed had a list of 50 most wanted. Will you act on that list and send the messsage, Loud and clear."
Marshals did not release any details about the Browns' capture or any additional charges they may face, but in a recent press briefing, Monier suggested that marshals were investigating the couple for new crimes related to their standoff.
"This was a tax case," he said in September, "but over the last seven months, the Browns have allegedly obstructed justice and encouraged others to assist them. Ed Brown has threatened to kill law enforcement officers and other government officials."
The Browns were active in the militia movement in the 1990s, training in a group called the Constitution Defense Militia. Ed Brown became a prominent spokesman for the movement after the Oklahoma City bombing, when he told national news organizations that the attack had been planned by federal agents to discredit the movement.
In recent years, he has served as the national head of the Constitution Rangers of the Continental Congress of 1776, an organization charged with holding law enforcement figures accountable to the constitution.
News of Ed Brown's stand quickly spread through the militia community and flowed to other groups as well. His case captured the imagination of many who believed the income tax system was illegitimate or felt the federal government had gone too far in interfering with individual liberties. The case also attracted the support of members of the local Free State Project, a group of New Hampshire libertarians hoping to transform the state's politics.
As Elaine Brown returned to court to complete her defense, supporters brought food, weapons and flags to the Brown home, which the couple had improved over several years. Their large home is fitted with solar panels, a woodstove and well, and was designed to function "off the grid." Ed Brown described the walls as built of 10-inch thick concrete for structural support, and a five-story watchtower afforded a 360 degree view of the hilltop property. At their bail hearing last May, the prosecutor described the improved home as "essentially a fortress."
Elaine Brown was freed on bail following her conviction, but fled to join her husband in late February. The couple have remained together ever since, and have both expressed their desire to die in support of their cause. Elaine Brown said that she could imagine only two ways they would leave the property, "either as a free man and as a free woman or in body bags."
Marshals have done little to block access to the couple's home, and the Browns have been visited by a number of local and out-of-state supporters. According to accounts from the Browns and the supporters themselves, they brought the couple food, cell phones and weapons, and helped them establish a presence on the internet that allowed them to communicate with like minded people elsewhere in the country. Since February, the couple has appeared nearly every weekday on an online radio show, where they have discussed their political beliefs and made several threats against federal officials As recently as yesterday, the couple used the show to discuss the possible utility of organizing assassination squads to target key government figures.
"That's what's going to have to happen worldwide," Ed Brown said.
The Browns have recently made mention of a list of targets being prepared in case they are harmed by authorities.
Marshals arrested four of the couple's most prominent helpers last month, charging them with federal felonies for helping the couple. All four are being held without bail until their trials, scheduled for November. Among other things, three of the supporters were charged with bringing the couple .50 caliber rifles, which shoot bullets capable of piercing body armor and are able to hit targets at long distances with great accuracy.
A fifth supporter was arrested this week by local authorities and is being held on bond for a number of driving-related offenses.
Visits to the property have quieted since the arrests, Elaine Brown said on the radio show yesterday.
"Locals don't come so much anymore," she said. "I guess the feds scared them off."
Monier did not say if quiet conditions at the property led to the timing of arrests, but his statement did say that he believed their arrests last night "promised the safest possible outcome."
The statement did not say whether the Browns were entertaining guests at the time of their arrest.
In June, marshals surrounded the Browns' home with state police SWAT teams, bringing helicopters, paramedics and an explosives disposal unit, but Monier denied that they were there to arrest the couple. Instead, he said marshals were performing surveillance on the couple while authorities seized the couple's commercial building 10 miles away. Marshals briefly detained and interrogated a Brown supporter who stumbled on a surveillance team that morning while walking the couple's dog.
But other than that incident, Monier has taken a low-key approach to the Brown case. He has frequently warned supporters that they are subject to prosecution for helping the couple, but marshals have rarely been visible near the house, and their communications with the couple were focused on persuading them to surrender, he said.
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By MARGOT SANGER-KATZ
I understand the threat charges brought against them, but last time I checked, until they actually commit a real crime, it shouldn't be illegal to bring supplies to them. Obviously, I'm missing something here.