Posted on 04/28/2008 9:29:20 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Wesley Snipes had only been convicted of misdemeanors concerning his failure to file income tax returns.
And the action movie star had submitted written character testimonials from Denzel Washington, Woody Harrelson, and television's Judge Joe Brown to assist him in the judge’s consideration of his sentencing.
Through his attorneys, Snipes asked for probation rather than prison, which is the normal sentence with a conviction of someone without a criminal history. Still, in spite of it all, U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges sentenced Snipes to three years in prison.
Why did this happen?
Well, in February 2008, a federal jury acquitted Snipes of felony tax fraud and conspiracy (which could have placed him in the slammer for more than a decade) but convicted the actor on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file a tax return.
Snipes’ two co-defendants, a defrocked accountant and a tax protest leader, were convicted on the felony counts and may go to jail for 10 years.
Because Snipes is a celebrity, his case has received an enormous amount of publicity. In defense of his actions, he essentially asserted tax protest arguments that have consistently been brushed aside by the courts.
Unfortunately, unscrupulous people sell books, tapes and the like, which end up convincing some people that they don’t have to pay income tax.
Snipes claimed that the tax code did not mandate payment of income taxes by citizens who earned the money in this country. He additionally claimed that the IRS is not a legitimate government entity and therefore had no legal authority to collect taxes.
Jurors found that the actor failed to file for three years.
In the sentencing memo filed by his lawyer, Snipes also asserted that he didn’t have to file returns because he “was a 'stateless person' or 'nonresident alien.'”
The prosecutors’ sentencing memo stated that Snipes' policy was “to send checks received at his business office for deposit offshore.”
In addition, the memo stated that the actor paid approximately “$498,000 in personal payments to Snipes' grandmother, his former wife, his then-fiancee, his personal lawyer, a tax defier organization, and M&S Finance, the Swiss alter-ego to which he fraudulently conveyed his business holdings in 1999,” and that the amount of unreported gross income for the three-year period was “$13 million.”
Snipes exhibited a “history of contempt over a period of time” for U.S. tax laws, the judge said.
You can bet Judge Hodges knew full well that lots of people who maintain similar beliefs to Snipes and his co-defendants were watching the case and would be encouraged not to file and not to pay if Snipes hadn’t been given the max.
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James Hirsen is a media analyst, Trinity Law School professor, and teacher of mass media law at Biola University.
Assuming he doesn't get a new trial on appeal (unlikely) or a sentence reduction on appeal (unlikely) he'll serve 85% of 3 years, or about 2 years and 6 months.
There is no federal parole, only 15% "good time" if he behaves himself.
I have no illusions.
If the Dems ever unwound the reductions, they would NOT unwind the increases such as I was hit with.
Or worse.
“Why Wesley Snipes Got the Maximum”
“the action movie star had submitted written character testimonials from Judge Joe Brown”
Practically every Californian can get a CCW.
Woody Harrelson as a character witness? LOL
Poppycock. What if the law required you to something like bow to meter maids or beat your children. Down with tyranny.
Incorrect.
I can't even begin to understand the mindset that would want to see another individual sent to prison for life for failure to pay their taxes. Statism is alive and well I see.
Would you have wanted the tax protesters of 18th century America thrown into prison for life as well?
The IRS should be considered an abomination to any freedom loving individual.
I don’t if it is relevant, but didn’t Willie Nelson basically do the same thing? If I remember right, I don’t think he served any time. Maybe he claimed he was too stoned to remember.
You don't quite get the point of your own words do you?
I'm slow...how?
Too right. We all remember how much hard time Teddy Kennedy did. And Bill Clinton ain't never getting out of prison for his acts of rape and perjury.
I bet if Snipes had been a Democrat politician he would have got off with a slapped wrist.
Good question.
BTTT
I guess those who carried out the Boston Teaparty should have “worked within the system” to change things instead of making a stand against what they knew was unjustified. Yeah, okay.
Just because something is “the law” doesn’t mean it should be obeyed. What is right and what is legal can be two very different things. More often than not, much of the system and it’s laws are purely self-serving to those in power, and everyone else (i.e., the actual citizenry) is perceived as a means/resources to it’s own ends. This has certainly become the case in this liberty-starved country.
Maybe if enough people actually stood up like Snipes did, and stopped handing over tribute to the extortionist thugs called the US Federal Government, then some real change might start happening. But so long as everyone tacitly goes along with this rampant theft because “it’s the law,” then this will continue indefinitely no matter how much anyone dislikes it.
Oh, and it’s really odd to see so many conservatives celebrating a tax protester getting thrown in prison. I don’t care what his politics are, liberal or not. Nobody deserves to get thrown in jail for not paying taxes. It’s completely unnecessary and cruel.
Comparing Wesley Snipes to the brave revolutionaries is insulting. The people who fought for our separation from England were not fighting taxation. They were fighting taxation without representation. They were angry that they had no say in what taxes they had to pay.
Wesley Snipes is no patriot, he is a criminal. We are a nation of laws, and as much as the law on income taxes stinks, we are expected to pay it until we elect people who will repeal such laws.
I always was led to believe that "conservatives" were all about being law abiding. After all, we constantly rail against liberals who flout the law. Is it OK for us to preach that we are a nation of laws, and that no one is above the law, except when it relates to us and it is something we don't like?
No, you can't, n00b.
Which is exactly why the Prohibition is still in force, right?
There was nothing heroic about what Snipes did. As much as I may disagree with Joan Baez withholding her taxes in the 60s as an anti-war protest, what she did was done on principle. Snipes tried to cheat on his taxes and got caught, THEN brought up various very weak anti-tax arguments.
Snipes and his Hollywood cronies support the tax-raising party. They want you and me to pay the taxes to pay for all their do-good programs, while they shift their millions of dollars in income offshore. Not a damned thing heroic here. It’s the very definition of elitism.
In the beginning of the Republic, 20,000 citizens were represented by one representative.
Currently, 600,000+ citizens are represented by one representative.
In the beginning of the Republic, pretty only people who were taxed could vote on taxation.
Currently, the voting pool has been heavily diluted with those who SUBSIST on tax dollars.
Our "representatives" just tried to dilute the voting pool even further with their phony "amnesty".
What in God's name are you talking about when you talk about "taxation with representation"?
Prohibition threatened the government, so it's gone, gone, gone.
The government got smart and instituted the War on Drugs as a test model for further encroachments on liberty. If you're carrying several thousand dollars in cash, the Kettenhunde can seize it and charge it with a crime. You'll never get it back.
Furthermore, the government then instituted the War on Tobacco, as a preliminary for dealing with alcohol. Soon, the government will attack alcohol with the same tools they used on tobacco.
Hell, right now, it's a thoughtcrime to drink and drive. But I suppose a statist like you just loves that sort of thing...
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