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Hollywood actor Wesley Snipes lost his battle against a three-year prison sentence for tax evasion on Friday.
The court of appeal in Atlanta ruled that the judge properly sentenced the 47-year-old White Men Can't Jump star. His lawyers had argued that the sentence was "unreasonable" and that he should have been granted a hearing to decide whether his trial should have been held in New York instead of Florida. Snipes received the maximum sentence from a judge in Florida in 2008 for dodging more than $15 million in federal income taxes on earnings from the peak of his career. <span style="font-weight: bold">Two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington had written to US District Court judge William Terrell Hodges asking that Snipes, 45, be spared a prison sentence.</span> "Wesley is like a mighty oak tree," he wrote. "Many who know him have witnessed the fruit of his labours. I have sat in his shade and even been protected by his presence." <span style="font-weight: bold">Woody Harrelson, who said he had known Snipes for two decades and starred alongside him in the movie Wildcats, said his friend was "a true citizen of the world". </span>A number of other show business friends provided glowing character references. But their appeal fell on deaf ears. Snipes was convicted of three counts of failing to file tax returns from 1999 to 2001, but was acquitted of felony fraud and conspiracy charges. US attorney Robert O'Neill told the judge that Snipes was a 'notorious' tax protester who deliberately used bogus and discredited arguments to avoid paying. During the investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Snipes was arrested at Johannesburg airport for allegedly trying to pass through using a fake South African passport. He was arrested shortly after he was deported to the US.
— Daily Mail