Finished the 8^th grade. Did not go on to high school.

Navy: four years

Employed: Father’s used car lot (commission salesman)

Employed: Sewing machine (commission salesman)

Owner: Sewing machine retail store

Owner: Furniture and Appliance retail store

Employed: Camping (RVs) Memberships and big satellite dishes (sales force manager)

Employed: Flashing signs and Rack and Pinions (sales force manager)

Employed: Small dish and Direct TV programming sales (sales force manager)

1988: Prime rate shot up at the time that Bill was having a huge furniture sale. The bank that had agreed to buy contracts reneged when sale was over and put Bill out of business. This was Bill's first encounter with the IRS. Life was never to be the same and took a toll on Bill's marriage.

1990: Bill and his wife begin a ten-year divorce battle. At the same time the IRS was doing an audit on Bill and the Flashing Sing business. The IRS undertook an intense audit of the company and Bill – an audit that lasted one whole year. During this audit, the IRS agent sent a letter to the divorce court telling the judge that although he had not found anything as yet, he was sure that the company was hiding money. This resulted in the judge awarding lifetime alimony of $250 a week to Bill's Ex-wife. They never were blessed with children.

1992: The IRS finally completes the audit of Bill and the company he worked for. The only claim the IRS could come up with was a claim that a car that was covered under the company’s insurance program was actually a car owned and used by Bill’s wife. This was a $460 a year policy. The IRS told Bill to pay them $5,000 in interest and penalties. They took $5,000 from the sale of the family home. 30 days later Bill received a letter telling him that they had more interest and penalties and wanted more money. Bill refused, saying the IRS was wrong.

1994: Bill Lear met Rose Aleszka. They fell in love. They found they had much in common with backgrounds in advertising, marketing and sales. Rose was just finishing graphics arts training and Bill was once again looking for a business to promote. Bill was also fighting with the court and his ex-wife's attorney because he was unable to pay the alimony the court had imposed on him. This is when Bill meet Ed Kawaleski.

1995: Ed Kawaleski was marketing large dish antennas under the name of Stargaze Leasing. Because of the new small RCA dish antennas, Ed Kawaleski designed a lease program to include them. Bill went out into the field to test the new program and found that many people were interested but needed to finance the package. This is when Ed Kawaleski approached Dan Van Damm who also had a commercial cable business called Midwest Cable. A new business was set up. This is how the business was designed to work:

1. Dan Van Dam handled the financing end of the business, including locating and making the arrangements with the lending institution(s). Midwest Cable also had installers and could purchase the equipment. Dan Van Damm later separated this part of the business and incoroapited under the name of Via Satellite.
    
2. Ed Kawaleski was responsible for paying for the programming of each individual lease package. The lease package worked in this manor:

   The individual homeowner would lease the equipment and the full programming of Direct TV and all premium channels were included. The contracts would vary, some were five-year contracts, and some were 10-year contracts. The actual cost for Stargaze on this programming was $65 per month per customer. The cost of the lease package that was financed was between $3000 to $5000 and the monthly payments in the beginning were $49 per month and later reduced to $29 per month.
    

3. Bill Lear was in charge of hiring and managing a sales crew to market Stargaze Leases under Midwest Cable and later as Via Satellite. Once the Muskegon office was staffed with a sales crew, the Grand Rapids office was opened by Midwest Cable and managed by Rose Aleszka. There was also a crew operating north of Muskegon and another in Kalamazoo. In the beginning, Dan Van Damm or Ed Kawaleski would pay Bill Lear the total commissions and Bill Lear would pay the sales crew in cash. However, as Bill did not want anything to do with the banking industry, he did not have an account and had trouble cashing large checks as the business grew. This is when Dan Van Damm took over paying the commissions to each sales person and maintained the payroll.
    
4. All paperwork after each sale was turned into the Muskegon office of Midwest Cable and a person was hired to submit the credit info to the bank for approval and then schedule the installation. Once the customer was installed and Stargaze Leasing Co. had the programming turned on, the bank would verify with the customer and cash the contract with the payment going directly to Midwest cable. Midwest Cable would then pay the sales person and a portion to Stargaze Leasing, and the rest belonged to Midwest Cable to cover the cost of equipment, installation and profit.

Business was apparently very, very brisk but things went wrong. Here is what seems to have happened:

1. The fist lending institution soon reached its dollar limit on loans, telling Van Dam that it could no longer accept any more contracts.
    
2. Van Dam located a second lending institution, but soon that bank reached its dollar limit for the Stargaze Leasing Co.
    
3. Bill Lear’s wife Rose had an AKA known as "Skyline" which was set up by Rose to identify a series of sky scape fine art paintings that she wanted to do. This was an idea that she had been working on while in graphics art school.
    
4. For some reason, Dan Van Damm said that he could no longer do payroll for the sales people. This became a huge dispute between Dan Van Damm and Bill Lear. Dan Van Damm claimed that the bank was holding back an extra week and he could not afford to pay the sales crew until the bank paid him. Bill Lear told Van Damm that he would pay the sales crew out of his pocket and for Midwest Cable to make all checks to Skyline, Rose's A.K.A. The sales people did not want to wait two weeks to get paid and Rose did not want the responsibility of cashing and handling such large amounts of money. This caused a great strain on Bill and Rose's relationship. Rose did however give in as she understood how the sales people felt and she also needed to be paid. Rose did not do business with banks either but was a member of the West Michigan State Employees Credit Union where after showing the credit union the registration of Skyline, she was able to cash the checks written by Midwest Cable to Skyline.
    
5. September, 1996: Ed Kawaleski began to fall behind on his payments to Direct TV, HBO etc.,
   causing these companies to disconnect their programming from various homeowners who contracted with Stargaze for the programs. This is when Dan Van Damm placed a contract on Bill Lear's desk with a note that unless he signed this contract, Midwest Cable would not pay any more commissions on any contracts. At that time, there was $10,000 due in commissions that Bill Lear had advanced to the sales people. Dan Van Damm's attorney drew up the Contract, but in reality it was a contract between Ed Kawaleski, Stargaze Leasing and Bill Lear and Skyline. It transferred all the responsibility of Midwest Cable to Skyline. This was done without Rose Aleszka's knowledge or permission. Bill Lear could not sign anything in the name of Skyline. Rose Aleszka or Skyline never had anything to do with financing, equipment purchasing or installation. Therefore, the contract went unsigned and Bill Lear lost the $10,000 owed to him by Midwest Cable.
    
6. The homeowners complained to the law enforcement authorities, including the FBI, DOJ and IRS, who launched an investigation that resulted in indictments against Ed Kawaleski and Dan Van Dam. Among the charges against Kawaleski was filing false tax returns for failing to report over $400,000 of income. Kawaleski and Van Dam plea-bargained. Neither had to pay any money or spend any time in jail. Kawaleski was ordered to stay at home detention, unsupervised for 6 months and was forgiven his entire debt. Other than attorney fees, Dan Van Damm also walked away free and clear.
    
7. The authorities, including the IRS, interviewed Bill Lear and Rose Aleszka, frequently, between 1997 and 2002. They were trying to find out where all the money had gone and thought Bill and Rose had laundered money.
    
8. In the very first interview, the IRS agent, James R. Flink, informed Bill Lear of his knowledge that Bill had not filed a return since 1992 and that he needed to correct that. Rose Aleszka was subpoenaed to appear before the Grand Jury and supply all of Skyline's business records. The only records that Skyline had were the pay vouchers signed by the sales people and the unsigned contract that Dan Van Damm had drawn up. For some unknown reason, Bill Lear did NOT receive a subpoena. Rose Aleszka and Bill Lear both appeared with all the pay vouchers ready to testify to the Grand Jury. When U.S. Attorney, Thomas Gazon found them both there, he told Rose that the Grand Jury really was only interested in her records, that she didn't need to testify and that she should just hand the records over the IRS agent James Flink and sign a paper and go home. After this, meetings with Mr. Flink were sporadic but each time he questioned Bill Lear about being a tax protester. Bill informed Mr. Flink that he was not a tax protester but a non-filer and if Mr. Flink could show Bill the law that required him to file he would do so.
    
9. In 2000, Mr. Flink called and wanted to meet with both Bill Lear and Rose Aleszka again. It was at this meeting that James Flink and a US Marshal informed Bill Lear that he was under investigation for Willful Failure to File. The IRS presented Bill with copies of all the checks that Van Dam and Kawaleski had made out to Bill Lear in 1995 and 1996. This was a combination of Bill Lear's and the sales people's commissions during the two years. The IRS claimed this money (about $75,000 in 1995 and about $110,000 in 1996) was "income" to Bill Lear. They wanted Bill Lear to plea bargain and plead guilty to one year of Willful Failure to File and they would forgive the other year. Bill Lear would be able to choose which year he wanted to plead guilty on. Bill Lear said that he was tired of the harassment and would agree but had a problem with the numbers they were presenting him. He said that he could not sign an inaccurate return under penalty of perjury.
    
10. Bill Lear told the IRS that not all the checks represented his commissions that he had paid sales people out of that money and as they still had Rose Aleszka's records they were aware that Skyline had issued 1099s to those people. There was a conflict with Kawaleski and Van Damm's books and the numbers that the IRS was presenting were not accurate. Bill requested that Mr. Flink provide copies of all contracts so that an accurate assessment could be made.
11. At this point, IRS agent Jim Flick told Bill Lear that he was not going to go through all that and was "going to send Bill to prison for a long time." Flick was angry that Bill refused to plead guilty and plea bargain.
     
12. Under the federal sentencing guidelines, the length of a prison sentence is directly proportional to the amount of money the defendant is alleged to owe the IRS.

March 14, 2002: the grand jury charged Bill Lear with two counts of willful failure to file a tax return for 1995 ($75,000) and 1996 ($110,000), i.e., the full amount of all the checks written to Bill Lear and Skyline.

The grand jury handed down an indictment on two counts of willful failure to file under 26 USC Section 7203. The grand jury had not asked Lear to appear before them. The indictment did not include a reference to any law that required Lear to file a tax return, just Section 7203 which merely says that anyone who is required to file and willfully does not file is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to fine and/or imprisonment.

The federal district court appointed an attorney (Richard Zambon) to represent Lear. Zambon immediately told Lear that he would not argue that Lear did not have to file and pay the tax. Zambon told Lear that he would only help Lear if Lear pleaded guilty and plea-bargained. Lear said "no" and notified the court that he and Zambon were not of like mind and that he (Lear) wanted to waive counsel.

From the Transcript, we know that the Judge expressly decided that Lear could NOT argue that the requirement of filing a return is unconstitutional or invalid. The judge said that Lear "can, however, argue that he BELIEVED that he was not required to file an income tax return, and he can cite documents upon which he relied to reach that good-faith BELIEF. This evidence cannot include the argument, if any, that the requirement of filing a return is unconstitutional or invalid."

Mr. Lear made a point of putting it on the Record that Lear "had meetings with Mr. Zambon I have repeatedly requested Mr. Zambon to enter a contract with me [e.g., to present Lear's defense at trial, based upon Lear's good faith BELIEFS that he was not required to file an income tax return]."

The following exchange seems to indicate that Mr. Zambon refused to present Lear's "beliefs" at trial.

LEAR:  The man is not of like mind at all. I've had conversations with the man, and he will not agree to represent me in my beliefs.

THE COURT: Mr. Zambon, what's your feeling about that, sir?

MR. ZAMBON: Your Honor, that's probably an accurate statement, that we have a difference of opinion as far as how this matter should be handled.  [i.e., that instead of presenting LEAR's "Beliefs," LEAR should Plead Guilty to something and Waive His Right to a Trial and to An Appeal? ] But I'm perfectly willing to ... let Mr. Lear represent himself...."

Then, the Court, without examining Mr. Zambon's admission that he was "[un]willing" to "represent" Mr. Lear (and would "not agree to represent" Lear) because he was "not of like mind at all" with respect to LEAR's "BELIEF" ("that he was not required to file an income tax return") the Court simply instructed Mr. Zambon to sit in the back of the court room.

The court overrode Lear’s waiver and appointed Zambon as "standby attorney" and told Zambon to sit in the back of the courtroom during the trial. Lear did not know anything about discovery and Zambon did not advise him about the need for discovery. During the trial, which lasted two days, the DOJ brought in four witnesses from the IRS. They presented all the checks made out to Bill and Skyline to cover the sales commissions. They testified that Lear did not file tax returns for 1995 or 1996. Lear asked the four IRS witnesses a total of 17 times to identify the law that made him liable to file and pay. They could not. Lear turned to the judge and asked why he was there. The judge looked at the US Attorney, who said, "6012 (a)."

September 25, 2002: a jury convicted Bill Lear of two counts of willful failure to file.

October 2002: Bill and Rose are married, deciding not to wait any longer.

January 21, 2003: Bill Lear is sentenced to 1 year and ordered to voluntarily surrender himself to a Federal Camp in Duluth, MN.

After the sentencing hearing, Richard Zambon, the court appointed attorney for the Lear's approached Rose Lear in the lobby of the courthouse and threatened that if any more papers were filed with the court, Bill Lear would do hard time in prison.

The Lear's took the threat seriously, failing to file a Notice of Appeal by January 31, 2003, as required by the Court’s rules.

On February 27, 2003, Bill filed a Notice of Appeal.

On March 10, 2003, the day Bill was required to voluntarily surrender to the Federal Prison in Duluth, MN, the Federal Court of Appeals notified Bill that it did not have jurisdiction until and unless the District Court agreed to extend the time to appeal.

An Emergency Motion was prepared, served on the U.S. Attorney and filed with the Clerk of the District Court in Grand Rapids at 2:00 PM on Monday, March 10, 2003. The Motion requested the extension in time to appeal and a stay of the date of surrender, pending the appeal.

At 5:30 PM the decision was issued. The court took under advisement the motion to extend the time to appeal and denied the motion for a stay of surrender.

1. Bill and Rose Lear are both honorable people. Rose is a devout Catholic.

1. Bill Lear has been an upstanding citizen of Muskegon all his life. He has never received so much as a speeding ticket. He has worked hard all his life. He has had his ups and downs in his business career ever since his first encounter with the IRS. He is very widely known, given his employment and business background. If the IRS wanted to make an example of what happens to people who don’t file their tax returns, Bill Lear would make a good example because so many people knew him as a good and descent man.
    
2. Bill Lear is an easygoing trusting person who believes in turning the other cheek. He strongly believes that if he treats people the way he wants to be treated, they will respond in like manner. This attitude has allowed others to take advantage of him. However, when it came to the IRS Bill could not sacrifice his beliefs.
    
3. Rose Lear had two automobile accidents: 1992 and 1999. Both times, a car plowed into the rear of her car while she was stopped at a red light. The injuries from the 1999 accident were quite severe. She lost her two front teeth along with other dental problems, developed Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue and has multiple Facet Joint injuries to her cervical and lumbar spine. She has not been able to replace her teeth. While I couldn’t help but wonder about her health, I also could not help but notice her beauty which is much more than skin deep. Looking into her eyes I saw virtue -- a general moral goodness -- and a woman whose beauty must have been striking in her younger years.
    
4. Rose Lear is a mighty work. She is a fighter!
    
5. Rose has been fighting the insurance and legal communities. The insurance company will not pay for her injuries and health care and the attorneys do not want to get involved, once they learn who the insurance company is.
    
6. And, it is Rose who has been doing most of the work regarding Bill’s fight with the IRS.
    
7. Rose Lear comes from a large Irish-Polish Catholic family. She attended Catholic Schools where she was very well taught on American History, about her state and federal constitutions and the essential principles underlying our system of governance.
    
8. Rose Lear suffered from a severe, undiagnosed case of dyslexia as a child.
    
9. Rose Lear is a very bright woman with a lot of common sense. She is an excellent communicator.
    
10. Rose Lear is computer literate, having taught herself.
     
11. Rose Lear has a background in fine arts, graphic arts, advertising as well as sales and marketing. Her true love is her fine art painting which she has been forced to set aside since her divorce in 1990.