Tax Conviction Appeal Readied

Tax conviction appeal readied

A local bail bondsman is preparing to appeal his conviction in U.S. District Court in Detroit on two counts of income tax evasion.

Kenneth Mogill, Detroit attorney for Paul E. Wasson, said Friday he is now preparing the appeal which will be made to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. Mogill said he will base the appeal on legal errors which he says were committed during Wasson’s 1978 trial before U.S. District Court Judge John Feikens. A federal jury last June convicted the 55-year-old Wasson of reporting $10,000 less in income than he actually earned in 1971 and $39,000 less than his 1972 earnings.

The convictions could have brought maximum sentences of 10 years in federal prison and $10,000 fine on each count. Judge Feikens sentenced Wasson to two years in prison on each charge but ruled that all the prison time except for six months would be suspended. Feikens did not levy a fine.

The appeal of the conviction to the federal court in Cincinnati will delay the jail terms.

The federal Appeals Court in Cincinnati will have a three-judge panel hear Mogill’s appeal, probably in about a year.

The Appeals Court action was taken on Wasson’s behalf shortly after Judge Feikens had denied a motion by Mogill to vacate the two-year prison term. Earlier Mogill had sought agreement from Sheriff Thomas Minick and the superintendent of the County Jail, Raymond Zakrzewski, to permit Wasson to serve the six month term in the jail at the County Service Center. Minick and Zakrzewski said they would not accept Wasson as a prisoner in the county facility.

Wasson served as County Jail administrator for 14 months under former Washtenaw County Sheriff Frederick Postill in 1973 and 1974. He resigned after Postill fired three jail aides and publicly called Wasson "incompetent.” Wasson has been conducting a local bail bonding business which he started before joining the Postill administration.