Kent Hovind Will Face A New Trial

This post was originally published on Forbes Mar 20, 2015


Independent Baptist Minister and Young Earth Creationist, Kent Hovind, nearing the end of a long prison sentence for tax related crimes, was tried on new charges earlier this month.  He and his co-defendant Paul John Hansen were charged with contempt of court, fraud and conspiracy because of filings that they made affecting property seized by the government.  The seizures related to Hovind's earlier conviction.  The jury found Hovind and Hansen guilty of contempt, but was unable to reach a verdict on the more serious fraud and conspiracy charges.  Today federal prosecutor Tiffany Eggers has filed notice that the Government intends to proceed to retrial on the charges that the previous jury did not reach a verdict on.

Kent Hovind had warned his supporters earlier this week that a retrial was likely.

Hovind's supporters have waged a vigorous social media campaign documented at their flagship website #FreeKent.  On Monday, Kent had a long sought after interview with Alex Jones of InfoWars

The depth of Hovind's support is somewhat questionable.  Despite many appeals they were not able to put a lot of "boots on the ground" in Pensacola during the last trial and when it comes to the thriving church community in Pensacola, Kent Hovind appears to be a prophet with no honor in his own country. A full pardon petition on We the People has gathered 683 signatures in the week that it has been up.

Thanks to Bob Baty who runs Kent Hovind and Jo Hovind V USA - IRS for the heads up on the notice.

There is extensive coverage of the Hovind trial on my alternative blog - Your Tax Matters Partner.

Update

Judge Margaret Casey Rodgers has scheduled the new trial to commence May 18th.