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The person was Wallace Ward, the defendant in a tax evasion prosecution; US v. Ward (9th Cir 1992) 973 F2d 730. He wanted to avoid taking the usual oath about "the whole truth" and offered instead to swear to speak "fully integrated honesty". The trial court held this was unacceptable and he was not allowed to testify. Midway through his trial, Ward (who was handling his case pro se) offered to take both oaths but the judge would not allow any variation from the traditional oath. Ward was convicted and sent to prison.
He did bring an appeal based on the oath, and the appeals court noted that he seemed very sincere about his preference of oath and the wording of the traditional oath was not specified by statute, and therefore the trial court should have accepted his oath and allowed him to testify. But by that time, Ward's prison sentence was already finished.
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