Appeals court upholds leniency in tax case

Thursday, Aug. 28, 2003 | 8:51 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- A federal appeals court has upheld the decision of U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson to grant leniency in sentencing a Las Vegas man who pleaded guilty to 32 counts of preparing false income tax returns.

Dawson departed from the federal sentencing guidelines in 2001 that called for a term of 27 to 33 months in prison for Waldo E. Leon and instead sentenced him to 16 months -- half of it in prison and half of at home to care for his ailing wife.

The government appealed the lesser sentence imposed on Leon.

But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday said Leon presented uncontested evidence that he was irreplaceable "as the sole person capable of providing support, particularly emotional support to his dependent wife who was recovering from recent cancer-related surgery, had a history of pre-existing depression and was diagnosed as being a suicide risk if her husband were to be incarcerated."

The government argued that taking into account the wife's suicidal feelings would result in virtually every defendant claiming that he or she has a family member who might commit suicide upon the defendant's incarceration.