11th Circuit Rejects Actor Wesley Snipes' Appeal

ATLANTA -- The federal appeals court in Atlanta on Tuesday turned away the latest attempt by actor Wesley Snipes to get his conviction and prison sentence on tax charges overturned.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the appeal by Snipes, who was convicted in 2008 on three misdemeanor counts of willful failure to file income tax returns.

His defense lawyers contended they received emails from former jurors reporting misconduct among other members of the panel. One of the former jurors said in the email that three other jurors acknowledged they had determined Snipes was guilty before the trial began.

A federal court rejected the request for a new trial and noted that there were reasons to question the veracity of the allegations made in the emails. The 11th Circuit upheld the ruling on Tuesday, finding that there wasn't "strong, substantial and incontrovertible evidence" that would warrant a new trial.

Snipes started a three-year term in a Pennsylvania prison in December. He's appeared in more than a dozen films, from "White Men Can't Jump" and "Demolition Man" in the early 1990s to the blockbuster Blade trilogy.

Defense attorney Dan Meachum said he was disappointed with the court's decision. He said his client still feels that he "did not receive a fair trial decided by a just and impartial jury" because of those issues.

Comments

[KongYack]

02:01 PM on 09/08/2011

How is it that he can get all this jail time for tax evasion but Martha Stewart only gets 1 year for insider trading?

On top of that I don't see Nicolas Cage who also didn't pay taxes in jail. Why is it only the African American people who get the law overly enforced on them?

Why are we the only ones who get sent a message? What about Charlie Sheen, Martha Stewart, Lindsay Lohan, Robert Downey Jr, and Mickey Rourke?

Look at their punishments compared to African Americans.

All i'm saying is that I am all for following the law but the law should be equal for everybody not just harder on Black people.

[UnRed]

08:12 AM on 09/07/2011

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time. This was not an "oops, forgot to pay my taxes" thing, this was deliberate. This was a crime and we should have no sympathy.

[MsG7]

07:00 AM on 09/07/2011

They are using Mr. Snipes and trying to set an example of him...but why?....why Mr. Snipes?...why him?....something is very stank with this case. If I were Mr. Snipes, I'd fire everybody and get me a whole new set of lawyers and bust this case wide open!....There is some racist corruption going on here and it needs to be screamed from the rooftops, this is some bull!!!!!!!

[King Cashaw]

01:23 AM on 09/07/2011

I feel sorry for Mr. Snipes. He got some bad advice, but worse yet, he too the advice. The advice was the Government has no Constitutional Right to Tax income, but the 16th Amendment says other wise. Did he get a fair shake, I do not know, but I have no sympathy when a Rich man does not pay his taxes.

[treasurefish]

09:57 AM on 09/07/2011

The 16th Amendment was never ratified by the requisite 3/4 of states.

[King Cashaw]

09:01 AM on 09/08/2011

So, you say the 16th was never ratified by the 3/4 the of the State, then please explain this... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_amendment

[O K Ali]

10:52 PM on 09/06/2011

What a crock, he paid back all the money he owed already. Let him go.

[MsG7]

07:06 AM on 09/07/2011

@O K Ali...That's right. He paid it back. Why would he not pay it, knowing he was going to jail...Did they not make him pay it? plus some?....come on now...and if he took bad advice, ok...how many other rich people have taken advice from the people that work for them?...They're just glad to stick it to a Black man that's all. I'll just be praying for him to get out.

[MsG7]

09:22 PM on 09/06/2011

This is not right. If he was a Matt Damon, or an Ashton Kucher, or a Regis Philbin, or a George Clooney, he would be out already, better yet, he would not have served time at all. Yeah I'm playing the race card, you betcha!!!!!!...Hell, we're not talking Murder here. It's taxes. How many other famous people you know went to jail for the the same thing?.....This is bull....and how come they are not looking into the allegations that some of the jurors had already convicted him before the trial????...hhhmmmmm....

[King Cashaw]

01:10 AM on 09/07/2011

Al Capone comes to mind.

[UnRed]

07:59 AM on 09/07/2011

Seeing as how Matt Damon, Ashton Kucher, Regis Philbin, and George Clooney all paid their taxes, guess we'll never know what their sentences might be if they had not. I'm guessing, though, that this is not a race thing this is a criminal thing. Mr. Snipes is, they are not.

[domromain]

02:31 PM on 09/06/2011

SMH....

http://youtu.be/Y7m56YH-lHw

[sheerplat]

07:54 PM on 09/06/2011

I don't get it. What's the point of your post?

[treasurefish]

01:46 PM on 09/06/2011

Wesley Snipes is nothing more than a political prisoner of the corrupted US Government. He earned his money, and deserves to keep every single red cent of it. We never had a need for the IRS before 1913, and the only reason we have it now is to pay interest to private Federal Reserve Bank shareholders for every dollar that Ben Bernanke prints. I hope and pray that there is no 100 year anniversary of either the IRS or the FED. We need to go back to the gold standard!

Ron Paul is the only President Americans can afford.

[King Cashaw]

01:14 AM on 09/07/2011

Talking about crashing the Economy, the Gold Standard? Look at the reasons the IRS, and the Fed, came into use.

[UnRed]

08:08 AM on 09/07/2011

Bet you'll still have your hand out when they're passing out the Social Security and Medicare cash, though. And the federal disaster aid and you'll probably visit a federal park in the near future or drive on a federally-funded interstate highway or take advantage of federally-funded power stations.

Care to eat processed food where the federal government hasn't inspected the facilities? How about federal regulation of banks? Like what George Bush did when the economy collapsed in 2008 as a result of his LACK of federal regulation of those banks? Want a return to the manipulation of the stock market that we saw before there was an SEC?

Quite simply, your argument is idi otic. This is not 1912 and the reason we have progressed is because 1912 was not that great. Sheesh. Get an education before you open your mouth.

[treasurefish]

09:54 AM on 09/07/2011

Not everyone shares your vision of the way America should be. Some people think that the warfare-welfare state needs to be severely cut back - that Americans can realize their dreams without worrying about being kicked out of their homes while the President parades around like money grows on trees. Not everyone believes that a corporate-minded country, seeking to maximize shareholder profits at the expense of people and the environment, is a good thing. People and states would not be looking for handouts if they did not pay so much in taxes. BTW - Bill Clinton's era was behind getting rid of Glass-Steagal Act - that's what nailed this economy, but we wouldn't even need this if we got rid of the Federal Reserve.

Insulting someone because they don't share your Progressive viewpoint seems to be the Liberal way, but there is no reason why people can't discuss ideas without being trashed by someone like yourself on Huffington Post. This isn't a Fox News forum - maybe you should go there?