Wesley Snipes Gets Three Years in Prison

Action star Wesley Snipes just got the smack-down! He was sentenced to the maximum three-year sentence for not filing tax returns. Prosecutors had requested the sentence, one year for each of Snipes’s convictions, saying the star of “Blade 3″ and “Demolition Man” had “engaged a campaign of criminal tax conduct, combining outright defiance with insidious concealment”, telling the US District Court in Florida he failed to pay at least $2.7 million in taxes.

The 45 year-old Snipes offered more than 25 letters from family members, friends and even actors Woody Harrelson and Denzel Washington, attesting to his good character. They argued he should get only probation, because all three convictions were misdemeanors and the actor had no previous criminal record.

But Judge William Terrell Hodges said Snipes exhibited a “history of contempt over a period of time” for US tax laws. Judge Hodges said:

“In my mind these are serious crimes, albeit misdemeanors.”

Wesley then apologized while reading from a written statement for his “costly mistakes”, but never bothered to mentioned the word taxes. Wesley stated:

“I am an idealistic, naive, passionate, truth-seeking, spiritually motivated artist, unschooled in the science of law and finance,” Snipes said, adding that he was “well-intentioned, but miseducated”.