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Tax evaders in custody, marshal says
Ed and Elaine Brown taken without trouble
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By Margot Sanger-Katz
Monitor staff

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October 05. 2007 1:20AM
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.

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.

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