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Feb 23, 2009 7:07 pm US/Central
4 Minn. Men Sentenced In Threatened-Judge Case
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ―
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The sentences ranged from three years probation to four years in prison. (File)
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Four Minnesota men have been sentenced for trying to prevent a federal judge from presiding over the tax evasion trial of a former millionaire businessman turned tax protester.
U.S. District Judge Rodney S. Webb on Monday sentenced Robert Bonine Beale, 65, of North Oaks to 48 months in prison.
The judge sentenced Frederick Ogan Bond, 63, of Champlin and John Howard Pelton, 67, of Stillwater each to 24 months in prison. All three men also were each sentenced to three years of supervised release.
In October, a jury in federal court in Minneapolis found each of the three guilty on one count of conspiracy to impede an officer and one count of obstruction of justice.
A fourth defendant, Norman William Pool, 43, of Blaine, pleaded guilty in September to one count of conspiracy. Pool was sentenced Monday to three years probation.
Prosecutors said the conspiracy targeted U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery, who presided over Beale's first trial in April. In that case, Beale was convicted and sentenced to 11 years and two months in prison for failing to pay more than $1.6 million in taxes on over $5 million in personal income.
The defendants were part of a self-described "common law court" led by Pelton and wanted to prevent Montgomery from holding Beale's trial, authorities allege. The group believed that only one judge has exclusive jurisdiction over people -- Jesus Christ.
They allegedly filed fraudulent liens, delivered false arrest warrants to law enforcement in an effort to get the judge arrested and otherwise planned to disrupt Beale's trial.
According to prosecutors, during a phone call Beale made to another person from jail, he said, "God wants me to destroy the judge. That judge is evil. He wants me to get rid of her." During another conversation, Beale said, "God wants me to take the judge out, that's what he wants me to do."
Beale, the former chief executive of Comtrol Corp., a computer parts company now under new ownership, spent part of his sentencing hearing in September arguing that the tax code didn't apply to him and denying the court had jurisdiction over him.
Webb was brought in from North Dakota to handle the five-day trial last October because it involved a Minnesota judge.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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