Tax Crime Public Defender Bergeson Dead - You may now Scream Bloody Murder!
Bob Hurt
Tax Crime Public Defender Nancy S. Bergeson Dead of Homicide
Why
does it not surprise me that Nancy S. Bergeson, the diligent public defender
who represented Marcel Roy Bendshadler in the tax crimes case in which a
Portland USDC jury found Bendshadler guilty Monday, suffered a gruesome murder
on Tuesday?
She was found dead in her Portland Oregon home at her laptop keyboard in her pajamas on Tuesday. Of all the defense attorneys in the case, only Bergeson showed any sincere belief in the innocence of her client. Why? Because she really believed Bendshadler innocent. Why? Because for 21 months of their relationship in his case, Bendshadler had explained to her much of the skullduggery typical of the IRS and DOJ in tax crime cases, including subornation of both judge and jury, and many other dirty tricks, such as lugging into the courtroom many boxes to make the jury think the DOJ had a mountain of evidence against the defendants, so as to twist their minds and pervert their judgment. Her own research and observation corroborated the picture Bendshadler had painted for her.
And note that Bendshadler, 49, holds a Master’s degree in Constitutional Law, and has argued at least one case before the Idaho Supreme Court. He has studied income tax law and IRS behaviors for years. He knows his subject very well and has watched with others in the tax honesty community across America while the DOJ racked up a putative 95+% win ratio in tax crime cases, a phenomenal win record, even for the biggest law firm in the world, the U.S. Department of Justice. Many believe such a win could not happen without suborning both judges and juries repeatedly throughout the years.
Now, I suspect that Bergeson got so close to the truth in her own investigations over the months of association with Bendshadler that she became a dire threat to the IRS and DOJ, putting both at severe risk of exposure of their crimes that deprived Bendshadler of due process. As you know from my earlier report, Bendshadler said the jury seemed bright, alert, and friendly toward him one day, and then later returned a guilty verdict against him, atypical of such a jury.
For this reason, the IRS and DOJ people associated with the case have become highly elevated in MY suspect list . I would feel no surprise at the discovery that one or more of them bore direct or indirect guilt for Bergeson’s death.
“She held my hand for 21 months through this ordeal. Now she’s dead, and Judge Ann Brown wants to know whether the defense will seek an extension of time for the sentencing hearing, ” said Bendshadler in an interview Wednesday. “You may now SCREAM BLOODY MURDER, for Nancy Bergeson,” he concluded in sadness.
We agree. As the mob at the DOJ might say, Bergeson now “sleeps with the fishes.”
Bob Hurt (see contact info below)
Public defender killed in Southwest Portland
Reported by: Joel Iwanaga
Email: jiwa...@koin.com
Last Update: 2:53 pm
Nancy Bergeson
PORTLAND - Police made the grim discovery Tuesday afternoon.
They found Nancy Bergeson, 57, dead inside her Southwest Portland home on the
4100 Block of Southwest Hamilton Street.
Detectives say she died of "homicidal violence."
Bergeson is a Federal Public Defender and has been on several high profile
cases in recent years. She has had her Oregon Bar license since March of
1991, with much of her time being spent in Portland.
KOIN Local 6 spoke by phone with her boss, Steven Wax, who said that he and his
colleagues are deeply saddened by the loss and that Bergeson has been with them
for 18 years.
Police have not identified a motive, nor if Bergeson's job led to her violent
death.
There are no suspects in custody.
http://ww.examiner.com/Subject-Nancy_Bergeson.html
Nancy Bergeson
Friends mourn slain public defender in Oregon
4 hrs ago
Friends are mourning a public defender found slain at her Portland home this week, with one of her clients calling her "a fighter." ...
Police: Federal public defender was murdered
10 hrs ago- KATU 2
Detectives and crime scene investigators were at the home of 57-year-old Nancy Bergeson in the 4100 block of Southwest Hamilton most of Wednesday and ...
11 hrs ago- KATU 2
Detectives and crime scene investigators were at the home of 57-year-old Nancy Bergeson in the 4100 block of Southwest Hamilton most of Wednesday and ...
Assistant federal public defender slain
21 hrs ago
Portland police say a 57-year-old homicide victim found dead in her southwest Portland home was an assistant federal public defender. ...
Federal attorney found dead inside SW Portland home
22 hrs ago- Northwest NewsChannel 8
Nancy Bergeson was found inside her SW Portland home Tuesday afternoon. ...
Police investigating death of woman in SW Portland
1 day ago- Portland Tribune
Portland police homicide detectives are investigating the death of a 57-year-old Bridlemile woman who was found in a house in the 4100 block of ...
Breaking News, Southwest Portland »
Friends remember slain lawyer as a champion of the defenseless
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/11/police_investigate_public_defe.html
By Melissa Navas, The Oregonian
November 26, 2009, 7:10PM
View full
sizeCourtesy of Bergeson familyNancy
S. Bergeson was an assistant federal public defender. She was found dead
Tuesday in her Southwest Portland home.Nancy Bergeson cared
deeply about the defenseless.
Once, on a deep-sea fishing trip off Florida, friends observed their catch
decreasing as the day wore on. Eventually, they realized Bergeson, who was just
along for the ride, was freeing the soon-to-be dinner over the side of the
boat.
"They were just defenseless fish, so she was giving them their lives
back," said Lisa Maxfield, a friend on the trip.
Bergeson adopted the same philosophy with the clients she represented as an
assistant federal public defender in Portland. While some clients faced
deportation or drug charges, Bergeson's friends and colleagues said she looked
beyond her clients' alleged crimes.
"She always tried to understand where they were coming from,"
Maxfield said. "Not every defense lawyer does that. She had a lot of
empathy. She could just find the humanity in anyone."
Bergeson, 57, was found dead
in her Southwest Portland home Tuesday. A day later, Portland
police investigators said she was the victim of a violent homicide.
View full
sizeAmy Hsuan/The OregonianPolice
tape surrounds Nancy Bergeson's home in the 4100 block of Southwest Hamilton
Street in Portland. Officers continue to investigate the death of the assistant
federal public defender.On Thursday, police investigators moved
in and out of her home in the 4100 block of Southwest Hamilton Street. Police
tape cordoned off her home and an adjacent wooded area in the Bridlemile
neighborhood.
Detective Mary Wheat, Portland Police Bureau spokeswoman, revealed no new
details of the case Thursday. However, questions remain about motive, how
Bergeson died and why it took a day to determine she didn't die of natural
causes, as police first suspected.
As word of Bergeson's death spread, friends and colleagues said Thursday that
the news was "inconceivable."
Fighting back tears, Vernice Trease described Bergeson, whose birthday would
have been Monday, as a fighter and someone who was willing to stick up for
clients at the risk of angering judges. Trease, a 3rd District Court judge in
Salt Lake City, met Bergeson more than 20 years ago when Trease was first hired
at the Salt Lake Legal Defender Association.
There, Bergeson mentored her, discussed court cases and "was always
available and helpful to give advice," Trease said.
"The world has lost a champion, and those of us who know her lost a
hero," Trease said.
Bergeson also opened doors for new lawyers.
Maxfield, now in private practice in Portland, met Bergeson while at the
University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law.
When Maxfield graduated, she landed a job as a public defender with Bergeson.
Within a day, Bergeson invited the newcomer to help try a jury case --
Maxfield's first.
"She just knew it would be exciting for me and it was," Maxfield
said. "She kind of understood that being a good lawyer was a communal
effort. "
Steve Sady, chief deputy federal public defender, said his colleague's death
was a "devastating loss."
"Nancy was unique and wonderful in her commitment to defending her clients
and the Constitution," Sady said. "She passionately embodied the
American principal that no one has to stand alone before the government. "
Bergeson started at the Portland office in 1991 and had a stint in Eugene
before returning in 1994. Her cases for the Portland office included issues of
tax evasion, deportation, drug possession, and money-laundering.
Craig Weinerman, an attorney in the Eugene branch of the Office of the Federal
Public Defender, worked with Bergeson in Eugene.
Weinerman said he did not want to speculate about whether Bergeson's death was
tied to her cases.
"I just hope it had nothing to do with anything professional," he
said. "It just rarely happens. We've never had a problem with that so I'd
like to think that's not what happened."
Other friends agreed.
"To put the words 'Nancy Bergeson' in the same sentence as 'murder' is
inconceivable," Maxfield said.
Those who battled against Bergeson in court came to know her tenacity.
John Laing, assistant U.S. attorney, said he hadn't gone a month without facing
Bergeson in nearly 19 years.
"It could be frustrating," Laing said of arguing a case against
Bergeson. "I often said about Nancy that she doesn't try cases as much as
she tries causes. ... She really took on the causes of her clients as her
own."
And though they were on opposite sides, those adversarial roles didn't extend
outside the courtroom. The two often talked about parenting, their children at
Lincoln High School and putting kids through college. Bergeson's only child,
Jamie, graduated in 2008 from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
"We were often adversaries, but we were never foes," Laing said.
"We joked. ... she'd give me a hard time, and I'd give her a hard time
back."
Both worked on a recent methamphetamine possession case where Bergeson was able
to convince a judge to suppress some evidence. After Laing's appeal, Bergeson
urged him to drop the motion. On Wednesday, Laing received a message from the
U.S. Attorney General's Office recommending he not appeal the issue.
"She had hoped that that was going to be the result," Laing said.
"I was going to call and tell her the good news. And then two more e-mails
up, I saw the news (of her death)."
Outside of work, friends said Bergeson found time to enjoy the outdoors, her
dogs and dragon-boat racing. She was always on the go, said Brooke Wells.
Wells, a U.S. magistrate judge for the District of Utah, and Bergeson bought a
7-year-old race horse named Charlie in the early 1990s.
"He fit her to a tee because she loved to go fast," Wells said.
"I can picture us on horses kind of flying over the ground. That was the
gear she was in always."
Bergeson was also generous, Wells said.
Before becoming a lawyer, Bergeson taught special education in Utah elementary
and middle schools. She once made a promise to her students that she would pay
their college tuition if they graduated, not thinking anyone would cash in.
"One of them called up, sent their diploma and asked for the check,"
Wells said.
And Bergeson paid up.
Amy Hsuan, Casey Parks and Wendy Owen contributed to this report.
-- Melissa Navas
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Bob Hurt
2460 Persian Drive #70
Clearwater, FL 33763
+1 (727) 669-5511
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