Tax evasion trial might end before subpoena’s resolution

The Robert Kahre tax evasion trial might end before a spin-off legal action -- involving a federal grand-jury subpoena on the Las Vegas Review-Journal -- is resolved.

On Monday, closing arguments are expected to begin before Judge David Ezra in the trial of four defendants, including Kahre, who owns several local construction-trade businesses.

On Tuesday, federal Judge Kent Dawson is set to hold a hearing on whether he will recuse himself from the efforts of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada to intervene in the subpoena matter.

The ACLU wants to remove the assignment from Dawson because its officials believe the judge will have a hard time overcoming the perception of bias. Guards protected him from threats from tax protesters while he presided at the 2005 tax trial of Irwin Schiff, who is serving time.

The ACLU is acting on behalf of the free-speech rights of four anonymous people who say they posted remarks on the newspaper's Web site, below a May 26 article about the Kahre trial.

The U.S. attorney's office used a subpoena to wrest data from the newspaper, which could be used to trace two readers who had posted comments that could be construed as threats.

The newspaper fought an earlier subpoena to turn over data on all readers who had posted below the story, but complied with a second, more limited subpoena.

However, the ACLU still is attempting to intervene to have both subpoenas declared unconstitutional and to have the U.S. attorney barred from tracking the two commenters who expressed negative feelings toward the Kahre jury and a federal prosecutor.

It is unknown whether federal prosecutors already have acted on the commenter information obtained from the R-J in June.

Contact reporter Joan Whitely at jwhitely@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0268.