Introduction
Experience
United States Department of Justice
Accomplishments and Honors
Federal Defense
State Defense
Philosophy
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Accomplishments and Honors
During his first two or three years with the Department of Justice, Dr. Belcher experienced
several disappointing outcomes in cases assigned to him for prosecution, including two mistrials,
one acquittal, and two convictions that were reversed on appeal. Seeking to learn from his
mistakes, Dr. Belcher dedicated himself to honing his trial skills through long hours of
preparation, seeking advice from more experienced prosecutors, and reading every book and
article that he could find on trial practice, beginning with his favorite book on litigation, The Art
of Cross-Examination, by Francis L. Wellman, published in 1906, and going forward from there.
For approximately seven years beginning in early 1988 and continuing through his departure
from the Department of Justice in 1994, Dr. Belcher obtained convictions of more than 25
defendants in 18 separate criminal tax jury trials of up to one month in length without a loss and
without having any conviction reversed on appeal. As far as Dr. Belcher is aware, and based
upon his conversations with former supervisors in the Tax Division of the Department of Justice,
no other federal prosecutor in the country won more favorable jury verdicts in criminal tax cases
during that time period. Dr. Belcher is proud of the fact that many of the cases assigned to him
during this period of time had been returned to the Tax Division by different United States
Attorneys based upon their stated belief that the cases were unwinnable under local conditions.
Dr. Belcher received numerous awards and commendations while serving with the United States
Department of Justice. Most notably, in 1987 and again in 1991, Dr. Belcher was named
“Outstanding Attorney” of the Tax Division. In June 1990, the Assistant Commissioner of the
Internal Revenue Service for Criminal Investigations named Dr. Belcher as an “Honorary Special
Agent,” based upon Dr. Belcher’s “distinguished prosecutorial achievements relative to fraud in
the savings and loan industry investigated by the Dallas Bank Fraud Task Force.” On August 26,
1994, the Criminal Investigation Division for the Nashville District of the Internal Revenue
Service presented Dr. Belcher with a second “Honorary Special Agent” award in recognition of
his successful prosecution of “cult leader” Tony Alamo in the United States District Court for the
Western District of Tennessee. |