Water Cooler

CONCORD, N.H. (CBS) ― A federal jury found Plainfield couple guilty of tax evasion Thursday. The husband wasn't in court for the verdict, because he has barricaded himself in his hilltop home, saying he is prepared for an armed standoff.

Ed and Elaine Brown haven't paid federal income taxes since 1996 because they don't think the law requires them to pay. They argue there is no law requiring individual income taxes. The government says they owe more than $600,000.

The federal jury in Concord convicted them on charges of conspiring to evade taxes, conspiring to disguise large financial transactions and disguising large transactions.

Elaine Brown, who has a dentistry practice in Lebanon, was also convicted of evading income taxes and failing to withhold taxes from her employees. She was in court to hear the verdict.

The couple did not show up for their trial on Friday. Elaine returned on Tuesday to say she would negotiate with prosecutors, but Ed Brown stayed holed up in their home, vowing to stay away from court and protect his property.

"I'm in my house," he said Wednesday morning by phone. "I won't leave it."

"If somebody comes at your house with guns to arrest you and you've committed no crimes, what would you do," he asked.

"Most Americans," Brown told The Associated Press, "would cower and cringe and raise their hands and surrender like a good little slave."

And him?

"I won't. Under no circumstances. I do not tolerate cowardness, oppression, bulliness, and I certainly don't tolerate a federal agency that has absolutely zero jurisdiction in my state, never mind in my county, in my town."

In the home on Tuesday, Brown told supporters and reporters he has weapons and has called for supporters to converge on his property to help him resist the tax charges.

"You attack my property, it's going to get really violent," Brown told the Concord Monitor on Tuesday. "I don't care who it is."

With a handgun tucked in the front of his pants, Ed Brown met with reporters Tuesday in his kitchen. Three supporters blocked the driveway with their cars, listened to a police scanner and kept an eye out for people approaching the home.

A sign at the end of the driveway read, "Fed bullies: leave the Browns alone." On a nearby tree, a large sign warned "public servants" and government officials not to trespass.

Although federal agents seized more than 30 weapons from the Brown home in May, Ed Brown said some weapons were left on the property. Brown said he expects more supporters to come to the house within the next few days.

"The whole woods will fill up," Brown said. "These are some very serious people."

Wednesday, Brown said the judge has violated his rights, the media won't report the truth and he does not intend to return to court.

"Under no circumstances. Why would I go into a court that's already disallowed me all lawful due process?"

Brown said there's a possibility the situation will end peacefully, if the government leaves him alone.

"If they attack me, I have no choice do I," he said.

"Do I see it turning out any other way? Yeah, there's a possibility if they stay away and all obey the law of the land" and let his wife go free.

U.S. Marshal Stephen Monier says his office has been in regular contact with Brown and has no plans to go to the property at this point.

E-mails that have circulated on anti-government Web sites and e-mail listservs have called on supporters to help protect Brown and his home. One message, urging people to join Brown, was titled "Will Plainfield be another Waco?"

The Browns' large home, surrounded by acres of woods, sits atop a large hill. A circular tower affords a 360-degree view, and walls in the home's recent addition are reinforced with 10-inch-wide concrete, Brown said.

Over the past few decades, Brown has claimed membership in several anti-government and militia groups including the Constitution Rangers of the Continental Congress of 1777, the Constitution Defense Militia and the UnAmerican Activities Investigations Commission, which he founded.

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