Mitchelson Given 30 Months for Tax Fraud : Courts: Judge calls lawyer to celebrities a man who ‘has literally ruined himself.’ Sentence includes payment of $2,158,796 in restitution.

Describing Marvin M. Mitchelson as a man who “has literally ruined himself,” a federal judge Monday sentenced the celebrity lawyer to 30 months in prison for federal tax fraud.

U.S. District Judge William D. Keller also ordered Mitchelson to pay $2,158,796 in restitution, which includes taxes due and interest.

The lawyer to celebrities such as Joan Collins, Sonny Bono and Bianca Jagger was convicted in February of four felony counts of tax fraud for hiding nearly $2 million in income between 1983 and 1986.

“You have an old man in his twilight years,” Keller said, as the white-haired Mitchelson, 64, stood before him. “The ridicule and obloquy he has brought upon himself is apparent. He has been penalized over and above the (sentencing) guidelines.”

Keller allowed Mitchelson to remain free on bail, pending the appeal the lawyer said he plans to file.

The attorney was dressed in his trademark black suit and glasses with smoky lenses, but he displayed none of his usual flamboyance as he broke down before the judge, saying: “This is the second saddest day of my life. My mother’s death was the first.”

Shoulders stooped, Mitchelson described the highlights of his 36-year career, saying: “Some good has been done.”

Citing the case against late actor Lee Marvin, which established the right of palimony for unwed partners in 1976, and an earlier case that established the right of convicted indigents to free counsel when they appeal, Mitchelson said: “I wouldn’t trade my legal career for anything.”

Mitchelson, who filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection shortly before the conviction, sadly joked outside court that he may need to apply for free counsel: “I may have to utilize my own law I helped create.”

The State Bar of California said Mitchelson will be placed on “indefinite suspension” May 3, which means he will not be able to practice law after that. Mitchelson said he will seek to have the suspension delayed during the appeal, which he estimated could take one to two years.

He said he has asked Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz-- who has handled the appeals of celebrity clients including socialite Claus Von Bulow, boxer Mike Tyson and New York hotelier Leona Helmsley--to handle his case. “We have to work it out,” Mitchelson said.

The tax case, which followed a three-year investigation, was described by prosecutors as the “West Coast version of Leona Helmsley,” who was convicted of tax fraud charges.

During the eight-week trial, Assistant U.S. Atty. Gary W. Lincenberg accused Mitchelson of avoiding taxes to subsidize his luxurious lifestyle. This included maintaining a West Hollywood mansion known as “the castle,” and buying elaborate furnishings for the house, jewelry and cars that included two Rolls Royces, a Mercedes Benz and a Cadillac.

After the sentencing, Lincenberg said Mitchelson had “displayed an arrogance to his criminality. I think justice was served. An important message was sent, that you just can’t schmooze your way out of everything.”

Jeanne Fjelstad--forewoman of the jury that deliberated one day before convicting Mitchelson--came to see the sentencing. She said she wanted “to see (the case) through to the end.”

The jury had no love for the Internal Revenue Service, she said, but the evidence against Mitchelson “was overwhelming.”

But Fjelstad, a postal worker, said she liked Mitchelson: “I think he was a nice person. That’s what makes it hard.”