Interviewed for a June cover story, David Struckman told the Seattle Weekly he was done fighting the government. But with his most recent appeal denied by a panel of three Federal appeals judges, and his August release date looming, the notorious tax protestor’s effort to have his 2007 conviction overturned continues. His lawyers have now filed a petition to have the case heard before a full panel of 9th Circuit Appeals judges.It’s a last ditch effort, one that some might forgo. But, as it stands, Struckman owes around $2 million in restitution fees. If he succeeds in getting his conviction overturned, that debt gets erased. And as previously reported, he’s managed to convince at least one judge on the 9th Circuit that his allegations of misconduct on the part of the investigators who handled his case has merit. Writing in a June response to Struckman’s initial appeal, Judge Marsha Berzon said that federal investigators had lied about the true source of information they attributed to an anonymous government witness. For that, Berzon wrote that she would remand the case back to U.S. District court for a re-trial. According to the latest court documents, Berzon has now ordered the government to respond directly to that allegation in its response to Struckman’s petition for a second hearing. A spokesperson for Robert Bernhoft, Struckman’s lawyer, says that this kind of order is rare. A call to the U.S. Department of Justice for comment was not immediately returned. Prosecutors now has 21 days to file their response, after which the court will decide on whether to grant Struckman’s petition.
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