The Knoxville News-Sentinel from Knoxville, Tennessee • 12

12A Tuesday August 9 2016 news sentinel OBITUARIESLOCALREGION Motions delay anti-Muslim trial Signal Mountain suspect denies claim By Zack Peterson Chattanoon Ttncs Free Picss Sequatchie County resident of Signal Mountain and a 2014 congressional candidate spent months gathering weapons and plotting an assault on a Muslim community called Islambcrg In July 2015 after federal agents learned of his plan earlier (hat year Doggart was indicted on one count of solicitation to commit a civil rights violation As protesters stood outside the courthouse he pleaded not guilty to the charge and returned to house arrest after US District Magistrate Judge Susan Lee denied a motion to detain him Then after Doggart hired new attorneys and was sent to court-ordered mental competency testing a grand jury returned a stronger four-count indictment nearly a year later replacing his original one In addition to solicitation to commit a civil rights violation Dogcart now faces one count of solicitation to commit arson of a building and two counts of threat in interstate commerce I Ie pleaded not guilty in June The current battle centers on suppression According to motions Doggart met in April at City Cafe with three individuals one of whom was the confidential informant That individual secretly recorded the conversation with a phone and videotaped it from his hat Because he left the table a few times there were gaps in the redacted version the government provided Although federal prosecutor Perry Piper never heard the full recording the motion says the Federal Bureau of Investigation did have the recording presumably listened to the nonconsensually recorded conversations" Because of that possibility the defense has requested an evidentiary hearing to figure out which law enforcement officers heard the recording and whether they used it as probable cause to arrest Doggart on April 10 2015 the day after the meeting the motion says EARL HARRISON PRATT Dad we look up to the sky and talk to you What we give to hear you talk back We miss your voice we miss your laughter we miss everything about you Happy 75th Birthday in Heaven Arnita Donna (Tim) Karen (Spanky) Joy Ashlea (Josh) Joshua (Becca) Kendra (Lucas) Katie (Austin) Rachel Brock Harrison and Martee Grach CHATTANOOGA- The trial of a Tennessee man accused of planning an assault on a small Muslim community in New York is effectively on hold until federal prosecutors respond to a number of filings Robert trial was supposed to begin Monday but he was granted another pushback after his attorneys filed a motion to continue a motion to dismiss and a motion for a bill of particulars late last month now there is no trial said Leslie Cory one of attorneys She said the motions effectively the until federal prosecutors have a chance to respond Authorities say Doggart a Robert Doggart Happy Anniversary CHARLES WINES 8986 Today would have been our 30th Anniversary You would always say if we could live our life over we would have found each other sooner so we could love each other longer Missing you more with each passing day I love you Debi 4- -h'- ASSOCIATED MBS State Rep Joe Armstrong D-Knoxville second from left watches the voting results as House members attempt to override Gov Bill veto of a bill seeking to make the Bible the official book on April 20 in Nashville The override effort failed ARMSTRONG from 1A been a good advocate for our community and everyone makes mistakes let the verdict speak for Camaron Brooks Kxk County Democratic Party Life Is a A life is a song We write in our Own tone and key Each life we touch Reflects a note That forms the melody We choose the theme and Chorus of the song To bear our name and Each will have a Special sound no two Can be the same So when someone We love departs In memory we find their Song plays on Within the hearts Of those they Leave behind where his firm is based and stealing from clients He has received immunity on those crimes as part of his federal plea deal in the Armstrong case Isaacs argued the $77000 represented the amount of capital gains tax Armstrong would have owed on his windfall and a fee for Stivers He said Stivers instead pocketed the money Stivers insisted Armstrong paid him $77000 to hide the money Stivers has not yet been sentenced He has been stripped of his accounting license Atchley said he believed there was ample evidence for jurors to convict Armstrong on all three counts but did not quarrel with the decision Armstrong who was a member of Knox County Commission from 1982-1988 was first elected to the state House in 1988 He served as president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators from 2012-2014 and twice was named Legislator of the Year A felony conviction disqualifies Armstrong from seeking office and the local Democratic Party has 40 days before the Nov 8 election to nominate a new candidate said Adam Ghassemi spokesman for Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett That gives local Democrats until noon on Sept 29 which Knox County Democratic Party Chairman Cameron Brooks called good amount of folks that need to get together in the party will do what we need to Brooks said Monday after the verdict only thing HI say with it all coming back pretty fast is I just feel fir Joe and his family He is in my thoughts and prayers been a good advocate for our community and everyone makes mistakes let the verdict speak for itself" but sentencing guidelines likely will be lower The jury acquitted him of conspiring with his accountant Charles Stivers to defraud the IRS by hiding his windfall from a sin tax hike through investment firm and of evading taxes which unlike the false return charge required a or deliberate act Assistant US Attorney Charles Atchley Jr said he will seek a prison term for Armstrong now a felon I certainly intend to ask for a prison Senior US District Judge Thomas Phillips set a sentencing hearing fin: 10 am Nov 30 Armstrong remains free under previous terms of his release on the verdict and Joe history of public service we intend to ask for a significant sentencing departure including probation" said Isaacs Asked if he will appeal Isaacs responded The sentencing decision ultimately will rest with Phillips whose options range from probation to the maximum three-year prison term Phillips also could fine Armstrong as much as $250000 and order him to repay the IRS the taxes owed with interest and penalties Armstrong made roughly $321000 when he used Knoxville tobacco wholesaler Tru Wholesale to buy cigarette tax stamps for him at the 2006 rate of 20 cents per pack and then sell them after a 42-cent hike went into effect in 2007 Armstrong voted for the tax hike It was not a crime for the lawmaker to profit from a law on which he voted nor was it a crime for Tru Wholesale owners Boyd Wyatt and Roger Cox to cut Armstrong in on the deal A to hoard tax stamps until the hike went into effect Hiding the money from the IRS however is criminaL Atchley said he could not speculate on why jurors acquitted Armstrong in the conspiracy and evading counts which both carried maximum five-year prison terms But the key witness to alleged willfulness to conspire to cheat the IRS and evade taxes was Stivers who turned out to be a thief and a liar who stumbled on the witness stand several times under cross-examination pausing for long periods before conceding he told a series of lies as the probe developed The false tax return charge rested more on the fact that Armstrong did not list the windfall on his return than any deliberate evasion Atchley said authorities first linked Armstrong to the case during an IRS audit of tobacco companies Testimony showed agents first confronted Stivers who lied about the source of the money his firm paid Armstrong in October 2013 The US office sent Armstrong a target letter notifying him of the IRS probe and his role as a suspect in December 2013 Armstrong has consistently denied he plotted to evade his taxes Testimony showed Wyatt and Cox paid $30000 to Robert Carter a friend of who had worked with the lawmaker at Tengasco a Knoxville natural gas and oil company to arrange a meet- mg with the lawmaker in December 2006 The pair wanted an inside man to apprise them of the likelihood a tax hike would be passed so they could begin like a slew of other tobacco wholesalers to hoard the stamps In early 2007 then-Gov Phil Bredesen advocated for the tax stamp hike in his State of the State address and a bill was introduced in the Legislature Armstrong was one of 60 lawmakers who voted in favor of it At some point Cox agreed to allow Armstrong to $250000 in tax stamp purchases because he and Wyatt had tapped out all of their lines of credit and cash reserves The pair took a $50000 cut of profits and wound up making a total of $3 million from the hike Armstrong recruited former longtime Knox County School Board Chairman Sam Anderson to co-sign a loan With BankEast for the $250000 Armstrong was a member of the board and needed an outsider on the loan because of that Anderson wound up getting a cut of roughly $88000 He did not pay taxes on it testifying Armstrong insisted the taxes had been paid He has not been charged Stivers claimed Armstrong wanted to hide his windfall from the voting public and asked him to funnel the checks from Tru Wholesale into investment firm and then back out in the form of checks written to Armstrong so that it appeared the money came from business not a tobacco wholesaler Stivers was paid $77000 He pay taxes either He has since pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the IRS and has admitted running tax evasion schemes in Kentucky Hid jCtn-l yi lifer MM Tf safe aj.