Judge sentences Wesley Snipes to 3 years for tax convictions

OCALA, Fla. -- Actor Wesley Snipes was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for refusing to file federal tax returns.

The decision in federal court here came after a daylong hearing. A federal judge earlier heard objections from a lawyer for Snipes, as the defense struggled to keep the actor out of prison.

When the sentence was read, Snipes had no expression at all on his face; neither did his wife, who was sitting in the front row behind him.

When a reporter asked whether he wanted to say anything, Snipes just spread his arms as if to say, "Like what?" He was with Dan Meachum, his legal counsel, who replied: "Not now." After the sentence was announced by the judge, Carmen Hernandez, a recent addition to the Snipes defense team, "Mr. Snipes was sentenced because he's Mr. Snipes." The judge in the case said Snipes' celebrity had no bearing on the sentence.

Snipes was not taken into custody Thursday. He most likely will serve his time at a federal prison near his home in New Jersey.

Snipes made a $5 million payment to the treasury on Thursday, but prosecutors called it a grandstanding move.

"It"ll be a fraction of what he owes," said Assistant U.S.

Attorney M. Scotland Morris, who made the argument for the government.

Morris said a rough estimate of Snipes' outstanding tax liability, with penalties and interest, will exceed $20 million.

"Snipes' long prison sentence should send a loud and crystal clear message to all tax defiers that if they engage in similar tax defier conduct, they face joining him and his co-defendants, Kahn and Rosile, as inmates in prison," said Nathan J. Hochman, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department's Tax Division, in a news release.

Snipes was facing sentencing along with his co-defendants, Eddie Ray Kahn, 64, of Sorrento, Fla., and Douglas Rosile, 59, of Venice, Fla.

Hernandez argued that Snipes' crimes were not serious, pointing out that the jury found him guilty of three misdemeanor counts of willful failure to file federal tax returns. But Senior U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges disagreed with her.

"Any offense that places my liberty at risk is a serious one," Hodges said.

Hernandez also revealed that Snipes, 45, star of more than 50 films, including the "Blade" vampire trilogy, had offered in August 2007 to plead guilty to one misdemeanor count and to pay his tax debt as long as he was promised no prison time.

She said prosecutors rejected the offer, insisting the actor plead to one of two felony counts that he was charged with. A jury in Ocala acquitted him of both felony counts on Feb. 1. Hernandez also argued against imposing a fine on the actor.

"He will pay off these taxes (with interest and penalties). He will be paying a lot more than if he had paid his taxes on time," she said.

The judge then quipped that Snipes has already paid dearly, a reference to his expensive stable of lawyers. Snipes smiled and nodded his head as if in agreement.