Well, folks, here’s a case that qualifies for this year’s chutzpah award.  You, of course, remember Oklahoma bomber, Timothy McVeigh, who was convicted and sentenced to death for killing 168 people.  Well, Leslie Stephen Jones, who was his lead lawyer, decided he would donate all the files, materials and evidence to the Center for American History at the University of Texas.  Now you’re probably thinking, what’s wrong with that?  Well, the lawyer had the material appraised and then claimed a charitable tax deduction for $295,000.  The IRS disallowed it and Mr. Jones appealed to the U.S. Tax Court, which ruled he really didn’t own the materials so he couldn’t take the deduction.  Mr. Jones then appealed to the Tenth Circuit which held that ownership doesn’t really matter.  That unless the property produces a long-term capital gain, a taxpayer’s deduction is limited to his cost or basis in the property and since Mr. Jones paid nothing for the evidence, he can’t take the deduction.  Actually, the Court was quite charitable in its treatment of Mr. Jones, a lawyer who tried to make a killing out of a killing.

THIS IS NEIL CHAYET LOOKING AT THE LAW™
Leslie Stephen Jones v. Commissioner, Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, March 27, 2009, Baldock, J., U. S. Law Week, Vol. 77, No. 39, Pg. 1618

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