Thursday 1 July 2010

Wesley Snipes' lawyers want to adjust appeal request after ex-adviser's arrest

Wesley Snipes has been asking for his conviction to be overturned.
Now his attorneys want a new trial based on Snipes's former financial
adviser's arrest.


Wesley Snipes' lawyers have asked an Atlanta court to review his tax
evasion case again and allow the charges to be dismissed or for him to be
granted a new trial amid the arrest of his former financial adviser
Kenneth Starr, who they say had been under investigation for his own tax violations when he testified against Snipes in 2008.

Starr, who has pleaded not guilty, was charged in May with securities
fraud worth $59 million. Snipes' lawyers say the charges against Starr
"revealed new evidence pointing to a miscarriage of justice at Mr. Snipes' trial." Defense attorneys say an investigation would damage Starr's credibility.

The Blade actor was convicted in 2008 of three misdemeanor counts of
willful failure to file his income tax returns and given a three-year-prison sentence. Prosecutors said Snipes made at least $13.8 million over three
years and owed $2.7 million in back taxes that he refused to pay. The actor
has apologized, saying he was "unschooled in the science of law and
finance".
Snipes is free on bail and his lawyers have already appealed his
case but
want a new appeal issued following Starr's arrest.

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