Peter J.Reilly: Kent Hovind To Be Set Free in August?

It looks like Kent Hovind may be a free man.  Peter J. Reilly writes:

It is pretty hard to surprise me, but Judge Margaret Casey’s Rodgers’s ruling reversing Kent Hovind’s conviction for contempt of court did the trick.  There was something of a one-two punch as I was also surprised over the weekend when the Government sought dismissal without prejudice of the remaining counts of the indictment, that the jury had not reached a verdict on in March.

I guess that the government figured out that Hovind and his support network of Hovindicators were not worth the effort any more.  Reilly has long thought that the government's case against Hovind was more of a witch hunt, although I doubt he would use those words.  Maybe we will see Dr. Dino back in action.  Interestingly, it is not clear whether or not his co-defendant, Paul Hansen will be set free as well.

Kent Hovind Guilty of Contempt of Court

Peter J. Reilly at Forbes, who has kept up-to-date on the trials and tribulations of Kent Hovind, reports that a jury has found him guilty of contempt of court.  He writes:

I just heard from Jonathan Schwartz of Interlock Media and freelance journalist Ben Sheffler that the jury has reached a verdict.  On the six count indictment, Hovind was found guilty on count three, which only applied to him – violating court orders to not interfere with title to the property. Hansen was found guilty on counts five and six, which only related to him – violating a court order to Creation Science Evangelism to refrain from further filings in relation the property and resisting a grand jury subpoena.  The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the more serious fraud charges against Hovind .  Hansen was found not guilty on one of the fraud charges (count two) with the jury not reaching a verdict on the other fraud charge (Counts 1 and 4).

As I mentioned in the last post, the target might just as easily be Paul Hansen, who was also indicted.  the jury's inability to come to a decision with regard to the fraud charges is big for the two, though, as those were the much more serious charges.  Here is more information.  What does this mean for Hovind? As Reilly notes, Hovind will continue the appeals to have the original charge dismissed.  It will be an uphill battle, though, given this recent instance of what the government surely saw as “meddling.”

Hovindicators, Onward March!

Peter Reilly has been having quite a bit of fun following the current travails of Kent Hovind, affectionately known as “Dr. Dino.” Hovind, who ran a young earth creationism organisation in the 1990s and early 2000s, ran afoul of the law in the middle of the aughts and wound up in jail for tax evasion in 2006. He has now served almost a decade of his sentence but now finds himself the recipient of yet another government indictment. I reported on this a bit back.  Now, apparently, the government is developing an interest in Hovind's co-defendent, Paul Hansen.  Reilly writes:

Kent Hovind, proponent of Young Earth Creationism, the notion that there is scientific not just hyper-literal scriptural evidence that humans and dinosaurs roamed the earth contemporaneously, is on trial for fraud and contempt of court. The charges relate to filings on properties that the government seized in connection with his conviction in 2006 on a 58 count indictment which included 45 counts of structuring. Structuring is the systematic withdrawal of amounts somewhat less than $10,000 to avoid currency reporting requirements. In addition to his long prison sentence, which is nearing its end, Hovind forfeited the structured funds.

Since the funds had been spent, property was seized. Paul John Hansen, trustee of Hovind’s ministry and co-defendant in the current trial, filed a lis pendens, warning potential buyers of the hazards of buying property from the federal government that might be subject to litigation.

As earlier, Reilly thinks the government is making a mountain out of a molehill and suggests that the case is really about something else:

Prosecutions for tax related offenses are very rare. Their purpose is to encourage compliance. This had me wondering, along with the Hovindicators – Why Kent Hovind? The initial volleys of the government indicate that their primary target may be Paul John Hansen, for whom defiance of government authority is a vocation. It has been more of a hobby to Kent Hovind, who focuses on winning souls, exposing the lies of evolution and warning about the coming New World Order.

Hovind, once upon a time, if you will recall, issued a challenge to the worldfor scientific evidence of evolution.  Here is the original offer:

I have a standing offer of $250,000 to anyone who can give any empirical evidence (scientific proof) for evolution.* My $250,000 offer demonstrates that the hypothesis of evolution is nothing more than a religious belief.

* NOTE: When I use the word evolution, I am not referring to the minor variations found in all of the various life forms (microevolution). I am referring to the general theory of evolution which believes these five major events took place without God:
1. Time, space, and matter came into existence by themselves.
2. Planets and stars formed from space dust.
3. Matter created life by itself.
4. Early life-forms learned to reproduce themselves.
5. Major changes occurred between these diverse life forms (i.e., fish changed to amphibians, amphibians changed to reptiles, and reptiles changed to birds or mammals).

An even casual reading of this “offer” suggests that God is the only one who would be able to provide this kind of evidence, which proceeds a priori from the theological construct that this biological and cosmic evolution took place in the absence of God, a proposition for which there can never be evidence one way or the other (and Hovind knows that). Suffice it to say the $250,000 was never collected.