United States v. Marashi

Sharon Smith helped her then-husband, Dr. Mohammad Marashi (defendant), maintain his medical practice's books, and Marashi instructed her to help underreport income to the IRS; the couple later divorced, and Marashi was charged with attempted tax evasion. At trial, the prosecution introduced Smith's testimony about their marital discussions concerning the underreporting scheme, over Marashi's objection that the common-law marital-communications privilege protected those confidential spousal exchanges.