United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Case: 10-1081 Document: 00116320473 Page: 1 Date Filed: 01/19/2012 Entry ID: 5611724 United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit No. 09-2402 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Appellee, v. ELAINE BROWN, Defendant, Appellant, No. 10-1081 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Appellee, v. EDWARD BROWN, Defendant, Appellant. APPEALS FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE [Hon. George Z. Singal, U.S. District Judge] Before Lynch, Chief Judge, Lipez and Thompson, Circuit Judges. Case: 10-1081 Document: 00116320473 Page: 2 Date Filed: 01/19/2012 Entry ID: 5611724 Leslie Feldman-Rumpler for appellant Elaine Brown. Dean Stowers, with whom Stowers Law Firm was on brief, for appellant Edward Brown. Seth R. Aframe, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom John P. Kacavas, United States Attorney was on brief, for appellee. January 19, 2012 Case: 10-1081 Document: 00116320473 Page: 3 Date Filed: 01/19/2012 Entry ID: 5611724 THOMPSON, Circuit Judge. A nine-month long stand-off between United States Marshals (the "Marshals") and husband and wife team, Edward and Elaine Brown, resulted in the Browns' criminal convictions. Edward and Elaine1 each appealed and we consolidated. Both claim that the district court committed a myriad of errors justifying reversal. After careful consideration, we reject each argument and affirm. BACKGROUND2 A. The Tax Evasion Trial To put this appeal in context, we begin with another criminal matter involving the Browns. In April 2006, Edward and Elaine were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges relating to their failure to pay federal income tax - an omission that stemmed from the Browns' belief that they were not legally obligated to do so.
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