Wesley Snipes' 3-Year Prison Sentence To Begin Next Week

ORLANDO, Fla. — Actor Wesley Snipes was ordered Wednesday to voluntarily surrender at a federal prison in Pennsylvania next week to begin his three-year sentence for failing to pay taxes.

The U.S. Marshal's Office ordered Snipes to report by noon on Dec. 9 to the Federal Correctional Institution McKean in Lewis Run, Pa.

Snipes had tried unsuccessfully to remain free on bail while appealing his conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The 48-year-old star of the "Blade" trilogy was convicted in 2008 on three misdemeanor counts of willful failure to file income tax returns in 1999, 2000, and 2001. He was acquitted of five other charges, including felony tax fraud and conspiracy.

His attorney, Daniel Meachum, didn't immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

The prison is a medium security facility with an adjacent satellite prison camp for minimum security offenders. Bureau of Prisons spokesman Ed Ross said agency policy prohibited him from saying which unit would house Snipes.

Following his conviction by a federal jury in Ocala, Fla., about 70 miles north of Orlando, Snipes appealed to the appellate court in Atlanta. But the appellate court upheld the conviction and sentence.

Last month, Snipes' attorneys argued at a hearing in Ocala that jurors should be interviewed about whether they had perjured themselves by stating during jury selection that they didn't have preconceived opinions about the case. Meachum said he had received e-mails from two former jurors who claimed other jurors thought Snipes was guilty even before the trial started.

Snipes' attorneys also argued a new trial should be granted because of testimony by Kenneth Starr, a former financial adviser to celebrities, who admitted during a plea hearing last September in New York to cheating wealthy and elderly clients out of tens of millions of dollars.

A judge rejected those arguments, writing that "the defendant Snipes had a fair trial; he has had a full, fair and thorough review of his conviction and sentence. ... The time has come for the judgment to be enforced."

Comments

[cjj777]

04:53 PM on 12/07/2010

isn't this 3 years quite harsh? I mean our prisons are FULL. order snipes to pay the $7 million
he owes plus a few million in fines, couple yrs probation & community service.end of story. I am not excusing his behavior+ but prison should be for murderers, rapists & hard-core offenders. Wesley Snipes is none of those.

[Preston Clark]

10:03 AM on 12/09/2010

Thats why our prisons are so over populated now. They will send you to prison for pretty much anything. I have a friend who had never been iontroublee before , got tangled up writing bad checks " about 2 thousand dollars worh " and got 5 years in prison. Its all all money thing. If you want to just do a little quick research on people in prisons and why they are there , it will make you think twice before you cross the road outside a crosswalk.

[jwb2013]

08:49 AM on 12/03/2010

The people who need to be in jail are the plutocrats controlling the $$$$$$$. End the Fed, End the IRS...both ARE illegal!

[Whoozthaboss]

02:13 AM on 12/03/2010

2 years for a cop killing an unnamed man, 3 years for not filing your taxes. Word. That makes sense.

[Nicole Dixson]

12:13 AM on 12/03/2010

Take it easy, man. Can't say that I will notice is absence, I haven't seen a movie of his since "White Men Can't Jump".

[timbeaux]

11:58 PM on 12/02/2010

Boy, I can see the next headline; FIVE DAYS UNTIL WESLEY'S SENTENCE BEGINS.

And then THREE DAYS . . .

Milking this much, are we?

[Supersteel]

06:26 PM on 12/02/2010

Eddie Ray Kahn is white. (he helped Snipes on this) and he got more time than Wesley Snipes. It hasn't anything to do with race. Not everything is about race. Here's a clue. If you're following some whacky conspiracy theorist into not doing something-like paying taxes-that everyone else does, and you think all these other people have just been ignorantly paying taxes for the last 100 yrs you might want to rethink/ He's a millionaire. He paid no taxes on income that anyone who ever earned money would know you need to pay taxes on. He deserves no sympathy

[bpj3149]

06:23 PM on 12/02/2010

If only his name were Rangle he could still make the law then break the law and still be paid by the people he violated.Great gig if you can buy it.

[mama likes mambo]

06:30 PM on 12/02/2010

so true.............
Love Wesley's movies, but you cannot get away with paying taxes.

[jwb2013]

06:06 PM on 12/02/2010

The only crime here is the BS so-called law. I would leave the country if I were him. I did. And have not given the corrupt, criminal US corporate gov. a penny since 1968. Abolish the fed, the IRS, and re-establish our constitutional rights!

[LiberalFromDenver]

05:39 PM on 12/02/2010

I do not think he'll serve the whole term. I'll bet he's out in 18 months, tops. I'm sure he regrets listening to those objectivist crackpots that peddle the "you don't have to pay taxes" BS. Some lessons are very tough, for sure. Anyhow, he'll get out and he'll be back to work before you know it. I don't think he's a bad guy.

[jwb2013]

09:09 AM on 12/03/2010

If the 'objectionists' are crackpots, why don't you show us the exact law that actually gives the FED or IRS authority? You know, the congressional ratification that is dated and shows all the juicy details for relevance. I would LOVE to see it. Even a link to it will suffice. Please.

[Kisha Coleman]

05:06 PM on 12/02/2010

Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

[Flight]

04:43 PM on 12/02/2010

So...Snipes is sent away for 3 years for tax evasion and Charlie Rangel-NY gets a censure? Where's the equitable application of the law?

[FloridaLAW]

03:32 PM on 12/02/2010

Three years in jail for three misdemeanor counts of failure to file is outrageous. Snipes is a first time offender and could actually contribute more through a community service sentence. The court wanted to make an example of Snipes

[MeasleeMillion]

05:02 PM on 12/02/2010

Freeway Ricky Ross (who never left his own neighborhood) was "made an example of" by being convicted as a "kingpin" for distributing drugs shipped into the country by government officials.

Naomi Campbell was "made an example of" for purchasing "conflict diamonds" (a profitable market for outside interests over 20 years while those same outside interests r@ped the continent of Africa dry and fueled the pockets of dictators)

Micheal Vick was "made an example of" for "dogfighting" (something that had taken place in rural america for almost 50 years, with zero "examples" made - and was NEVER a federal offense until this 24 year old negroid athlete engaged in it)

Arsenio Hall was "made an example of" for TV execs for having Farrakhan on his hit late night show for 22 min - Fox News, Sarah Palin, Joe Wilson (and others) spew all kinds of disrespect ful, r@cism laten fodder about the "black communist who wasn't even born in america" -and the likes of Beck, Limbaugh, Palin, and Wilson are given platform after platform to continue.

...and the hits keep comin'

[Supersteel]

06:46 PM on 12/02/2010

Dogfighting that crossed interstate lines could always be prosecuted. it just rarely did. However, when it did-like the giant case they just prosecuted that involved white defendants, they prosecute.  and there were over 100 prosecutions for dog fighting the year before Vick.

[Warren Peace]

02:17 PM on 12/02/2010

What a BS sentence for a misdemeanor. Martha Stewart got a felony recieved only one year in jail.

[rebel9999]

01:52 PM on 12/02/2010

Dude owes us money, so we spend money to keep him from making money to pay us back. That's our plan.

Sincerely,

The IRS

[bigrpictr]

01:22 PM on 12/02/2010

The real criminals now own all of the privately run prisons.