David Bruce Billings - Page 2




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          appeal was pending, Congress amended the Code to give us                    
          jurisdiction over cases like his.  His case was remanded to us              
          for reconsideration in light of the new law.  We examine first              
          whether the new law gives us jurisdiction.  Concluding that it              
          does, we then move on to consider the merits of his case.                   
                                  FINDINGS OF FACT                                    
               The parties submitted this case for decision on stipulated             
          facts, which means that the “Background” section of our previous            
          opinion can now be more properly labeled “Findings of Fact.”  The           
          facts are set out in greater detail in Billings I, 127 T.C. at 8-           
          11, but to recapitulate briefly:  David Billings married Rosalee            
          in 1996.  He was working at General Motors, and she was a payroll           
          clerk at the local electric company.  The Billingses kept two               
          checking accounts, and while both were jointly held, David and              
          Rosalee each kept almost exclusive control over one of them.  In            
          1999, Rosalee transferred money from her employer’s payroll                 
          account into the checking account that she controlled and into              
          which she had her own pay directly deposited.                               
               Her embezzlement continued into 2000, but Rosalee kept it              
          secret from her husband until the company caught her.  She then             
          told her husband what she had done and hired a lawyer.  By the              
          time that she was caught, Rosalee and her husband had already               
          filed their joint 1999 tax return, and she had left off the                 
          nearly $40,000 that she had stolen that year.  Her lawyer advised           







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