Stilley Rebuffed in Garnishment Fight

The Judge Isaac C. Parker Federal Building and Courthouse in Fort Smith, serving the Western District of Arkansas.

A federal judge recently denied a request by former Arkansas attorney Oscar Amos Stilley to block the government from garnishing his wages to pay off a judgment.

Stilley, if you recall, was disbarred and convicted in 2010 in connection with a complex tax fraud scheme designed to dodge paying federal income taxes. He was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $776,280 in restitution with interest, which now stands at $812,561.

Stilley served more than 10 years in prison. In October, the government filed paperwork to garnish Stilley’s wages at Cornerstone Structural Engineering Inc. of Van Buren, where he’s an administrative assistant.

The government asked to take 10% of Stilley’s nonexempt pay, which comes to $48 every two weeks. He said the feds took his 2020 federal tax return of $1,065.

Stilley, of Cedarville, objected to the garnishment on the grounds that the 2010 judgment was obtained by perjury, fraud and false testimony. He also said that there was misconduct in the case, resulting in his rights being violated. “Stilley was sentenced on the basis of a theory utterly inconsistent with the theory of the purported indictment, or the government’s theory at trial,” Stilley, who is representing himself, wrote in his filing.

P.K. Holmes III, U.S. District judge for the Western District of Arkansas, denied Stilley’s motion. “The judgment and debt are a matter of court record, and Stilley’s collateral attacks on that judgment must be raised [in another filing] rather than garnishment proceedings,” Holmes wrote.

Meanwhile, Stilley also has a lawsuit pending against a Texas doctor who acknowledged performing an abortion that violated the state’s law. That law allows private citizens to sue the abortion provider, and plaintiffs could recieive $10,000 if the case is successful.

The Texas law is being challenged in the courts and is pending.