TAX NEWS - June 2010

Pennsylvania Tax: Prominent Erie attorney charged with tax evasion

ERIE, Pa. — A well-known Erie defense attorney isn't commenting on charges that he evaded nearly $330,000 in federal income taxes from 1996 to 2006.

Sixty-three-year-old Tim Lucas declined comment on the felony tax evasion charge filed Tuesday by federal prosecutors in Erie. His attorney, Elliot Segel, also declined comment Wednesday.

Court papers show the charges were filed in a criminal information, and that Lucas has waived his right to a grand jury indictment. That often signals that a defendant has agreed to plead guilty to the charges.

Lucas has worked several death penalty cases in his career. He represented Stephen Treiber, who was sentenced to death in 2002 for killing his 2-year-old daughter in an arson to get out of paying $250 in monthly child support.