Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to The New Coffee Room. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Appeals court upholds Wesley Snipes' sentence
Topic Started: Jul 17 2010, 08:37 AM (138 Views)
Copper
Member Avatar
Shortstop

" Let me guess (I`m a blindman), that panel of judges are mostly white? the IRS executives who made that decision are white? The wall street CEOs are also white?"

"why they always picking on the black man? "


http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/17/snipes.sentence.appeal/index.html?hpt=T2

Quote:
 

Appeals court upholds Wesley Snipes' sentence

By the CNN Wire Staff

July 17, 2010 8:32 a.m. EDT

(CNN) -- A federal appeals court has denied actor Wesley Snipes' claim that his three-year prison sentence for tax evasion was "unreasonable."

A panel of judges in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld Snipes' 2008 sentencing on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file tax returns.

"The district court acted well within its considerable discretion in sentencing Snipes to thirty-six months in prison," the judges said.

Snipes had argued that the only reasonable sentence would have been a period of probation.

Snipes had been granted bond while he appealed his conviction on federal tax charges. It was unclear when he would be required to report to prison.

Snipes argued that the judge who sentenced him in April 2008 did not consider mitigating factors like his college education, family and charitable activities.

Federal prosecutors said Snipes for nearly a decade escaped paying more than $15 million in income tax returns by sending money to overseas accounts, though they acknowledged in court that the amount was in dispute.

Before the sentencing in 2008, the actor asked the court to show mercy and offered three checks totaling $5 million as a gesture of good will.

Federal prosecutors diverted the checks to the U.S. Treasury, which accepted the payment -- but it wasn't enough.

"It's essentially a down payment, but a fraction of what he owes," Assistant U.S. Attorney Scotland Morris said at the time.

A jury convicted Snipes on the misdemeanor charges February 1, but he was acquitted of more serious felony charges of tax fraud and conspiracy. Jurors accepted his argument that he was innocently duped by errant tax advisers.

Defense attorneys in court documents suggested that to sentence Snipes harshly would be to disregard the jury's verdict.

But prosecutors, in their sentencing recommendation, said the jurors' decision "has been portrayed in the mainstream media as a 'victory' for Snipes. The troubling implication of such coverage for the millions of average citizens who are aware of this case is that the rich and famous Wesley Snipes has 'gotten away with it.' In the end the criminal conduct of Snipes must not be seen in such a light."

Snipes, who has starred in dozens of movies including the "Blade" trilogy, "Major League" and "Murder at 1600" had received the support of many of Hollywood friends. Defense attorneys filed 39 pages of testimonials about Snipes, letters from a Hollywood "Who's Who" list and also high school friends and his employees.

Actors Denzel Washington and Woody Harrelson, as well as television judges Joe Brown and Greg Mathis, submitted letters to the judge on Snipes' behalf.


The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
John D'Oh
Member Avatar
MAMIL
I'm sure that Obama will right this obvious wrong on behalf of black people like me everywhere.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
The 89th Key
Member Avatar

Perhaps they can rule on certain cases by only knowing the defendant as "Defendant Number 524" or whatever. Seems like the only way it can be done without someone pulling out the race card every 5 seconds.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Mikhailoh
Member Avatar
If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
Pete Rose
Wesley Snipes
Willie Nelson
Darryl Strawberry - six month home incarceration
Spiro Agnew
Richard Hatch (Survivor)
Leona Helmsley
Al Capone
Boris Becker - Suspended sentence
Heidi Fleiss

Lotta white people in there. And you have to be pretty damn egregious to go to jail for it.
Edited by Mikhailoh, Jul 17 2010, 02:10 PM.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
John D'Oh
Member Avatar
MAMIL
Mikhailoh
Jul 17 2010, 02:10 PM
Al Capone
Yeah, right. He got the 11 years in maximum security 'cos he dodged his taxes. :lol:
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
« Previous Topic · The New Coffee Room · Next Topic »
Add Reply