MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- A federal court jury has acquitted rock 'n' roll star Jerry Lee Lewis of income tax evasion, but the Internal Revenue Service says it still wants the $653,000 it claims he owes in back taxes.
'Just because there is a not guilty verdict doesn't mean he's relieved of his duty to pay. We'll endeavor to pursue the tax,' U.S. Attorney Hickman Ewing said Thursday after a federal court jury announced its innocent verdict.
Lewis, who rocketed to fame in the 1950s with 'Great Balls of Fire' and 'Whole Lotta Shakiness,' was jubilant when he left the U.S. District Court.
'I think the jury was very fair,' he said. 'They knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jerry Lee Lewis does not steal.'
Jury forewoman Alma Henderson said the government 'got to third base, but didn't make it home' by failing to prove its charge that Lewis deliberately hid his assets from the IRS by purchasing luxury cars, jewels and furs for friends.
'That's what convinced us to turn in the verdict of not guilty,' she said after the jury had deliberated for nearly four hours over a two-day period.
The IRS has collected -- partly through seizure of property and concert fees -- $501,315 of the $1,155,111 it claims Lewis owes in taxes, interest and penalties on his income from 1975 through 1980.
The 49-year-old piano-pounding singer said he been 'a little concerned,' but not really nervous about the outcome of the four-day trial because 'I knew I wasn't guilty.'
When asked if he planned to pay his back taxes, Lewis quipped: 'If I can get a good G.I. loan I've got it made.'
Although Lewis was delighted with the verdict, he had no kind words for prosecutor Devon Gosnell. He called her 'demon-possessed' and said 'she told more lies than Carter's got liver pills.'
Gosnell said the jury apparently decided Lewis 'was too important a person to be convicted. He's been in trouble before and always gotten out of it because of who he is. I think that happened today. Apparently he can continue to flaunt the entire system without consequences.'
The defense claimed Lewis' tax problems resulted from a change in managers and the fact that 'he has no business sense whatsoever.'
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