A Denver district judge has found that Douglas Bruce, the author of Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, violated five conditions of his probation in a 2012 felony tax evasion conviction.
Judge Sheila A. Rappaport wrote in a Jan. 19 ruling that evidence shows Bruce failed to report contacts with law enforcement and did not disclose certain financial dealings and tax documents as mandated.
Rappaport called some of Bruce’s defense against the accusations “semantic” and noted the weight of proof showing his guilt.
Bruce is scheduled to be resentenced in the case on March 11, court records show.
The Colorado Attorney General’s Office, which is handling the case, declined to comment Wednesday on what penalties Bruce might face. The judge’s findings were first reported by The Gazette.
“In my view, I did nothing wrong,” Bruce told The Denver Post on Wednesday.
He called the violations alleged against him trivial and ambiguous.
Bruce, a former legislator, was convicted in 2012 of attempting to influence a public servant, tax evasion and filing a false tax return in connection with interest earned on $2 million he put into a charity he founded in 2001. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail and six years of probation.
“I’m an innocent man,” Bruce, who has a webpage dedicated to proving his case, said of the 2012 conviction. “I’m trying to get a hearing in federal court.”
At the time of his conviction, Bruce called himself a political prisoner. When he left Denver’s downtown jail after serving 104 days of his sentence, Bruce threatened to sue the city over what he considered deplorable conditions.
When the probation violation claims first surfaced in the spring of 2015, Bruce said the accusations against him had political motivations from officials who want to make him look bad.
“I’m the biggest nose in Colorado,” Bruce told reporters in April. “They’re picking on me big time.”
State prosecutors laid out their probation violation allegations against Bruce during three hearings last year. He proclaimed his innocence throughout the process.
After one of the hearings, Bruce was accused of assaulting Dede Laugesen, executive director of Colorado Springs Government Watch, at the Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse. City prosecutors declined to pursue the case.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or @JesseAPaul
