Gordon Kahl
Gordon Wendell Kahl (January 8, 1920 - June 3, 1983) was a tax protester best known for his involvement in two fatal shootouts with law enforcement officers in the United States in 1983.
In 1967, Kahl wrote a letter to the Internal Revenue Service stating that he would no longer pay taxes to the, in his words, "Synagogue of Satan under the 2nd plank of the Communist Manifesto." During the 1970s, Kahl organized the first Texas chapter of the Posse Comitatus, although he later left the group and was not a member at the time of the 1983 shootouts. In 1976 he appeared on a Texas television program stating that the income tax was illegal and encouraging others not to pay their income taxes.
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Criminal conviction and prison
On November 16, 1976, Kahl was charged with willful failure to file Federal income tax returns for the years 1973 and 1974, under 26 U.S.C. § 7203. He was found guilty, and was sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of $2,000. However, one year of the sentence was suspended, as was the fine. The court placed Kahl on a five year probation. Kahl appealed his conviction, but the conviction was affirmed in 1978 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, after Kahl's release from prison on probation. Kahl served eight months in prison in 1977.
Activity after prison
Following his parole from prison, Kahl become active in the "township" movement, an early version of the "sovereign citizenship" belief which later became well known because of the Montana Freemen standoff. This movement sought to form parallel courts and governments purportedly based on English Common Law, and to withdraw recognition of the U.S. federal government. Township movement supporters as well as the Posse Comitatus attempted to organize among farmers in the American Midwest during the early 1980s farm crisis.
The Medina, North Dakota killings
On February 13, 1983, because of an alleged parole violation, U.S. Marshals attempted to arrest Kahl as he was leaving a meeting of township supporters in Medina, North Dakota. In the car with Kahl were his wife Joan, his son Yorie, and three others who had been at the meeting. During the ensuing shootout, Kahl shot and killed two United States marshals. Kahl then took the vehicle of a Medina law enforcement officer and fled to Arkansas.
The Smithville, Arkansas killings
A tip was received by authorities from the youngest daughter of the owner of the 'Bunker' home of a man named Leonard Ginter, where Kahl was hiding in Smithville, Arkansas. Another shootout ensued on June 3, 1983, in which Kahl and Sheriff Gene Matthews were killed. Ginter was arrested and convicted of harboring a fugitive, and was sentenced to a federal prison.
Yorie Kahl and Scott Faul received prison sentences on charges in regard to the Medina shootout; Joan Kahl was acquitted.
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