Wesley Snipes Appeals Tax Evasion Conviction

Lawyers for actor Wesley Snipes filed an appeal on Monday of Snipes' conviction on tax evasion charges.  As reported earlier this year on the Dinesen Tax Times, Snipes was convicted of failing to file tax returns and pay income tax on more than $37 million of income between 1999-2004.  He was sentenced to three years in prison in 2008, and lost an appeal in July.

This time around, Snipes' lawyers are arguing that Snipes deserves a new trial because of an allegedly tainted jury.  One of Snipes' attorneys says he (the attorney) received e-mails from two jurors saying that three other jurors had made up their minds about Snipes being guilty before the trial started.

Snipes' attorneys are also arguing that Kenneth Starr, a financial advisor to Snipes and a key government witness against Snipes, was a "tainted witness" because Starr has since pleaded guilty to charges of fraud.

You can read more about the appeal here and here.