The Recorder:  Ex-Bechtel Lawyer Acquitted in Tax-Credit Prosecution, by Dan Levine:

In-house lawyers and tax managers should be breathing a lot easier this Christmas, thanks to jurors in a rare white-collar prosecution.

Deliberating for little more than an hour, a Northern California jury acquitted former Bechtel Corp. global tax manager Mark Muntean on Thursday morning on charges that he caused the company to file a false tax return. Federal prosecutors argued that Muntean, an attorney, knew a research and development credit claimed by Bechtel was improper, but pushed for it anyway.

Muntean's lawyer, John Youngquist, countered that his client trusted subordinates to give him all the information, and they didn't. Bechtel corrected the error after Idaho tax authorities raised questions.

News of Muntean's indictment made the rounds in the professional press, Youngquist said, leading to fears that the government was trying to criminalize tax advice that turned out to be simple error. "I've been in this business for 40 years, prosecuting and defending cases, and if it's a legitimate tax issue, you don't have a criminal case," the San Francisco solo said.

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:  Tax Lawyer Mark Muntean Indicted for Wrongly Claiming $7.5m R&D Tax Credit on Bechtel's Tax Return (9/23/08).