Actor Wesley Snipes has been ordered to voluntarily surrender
at a federal prison in Pennsylvania next week to start his
three-year sentence for failing to pay taxes.
The US Marshal's Office ordered Snipes to report to the
Federal Correctional Institution McKean in Lewis Run,
Pennsylvania by noon on December 9.
Snipes had tried unsuccessfully to remain free on bail while
appealing his conviction to the US Supreme Court.
The 48-year-old star of the Blade trilogy was
convicted in 2008 for willful failure to file income tax
returns. His attorney, Daniel Meachum, didn't immediately
respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Following his conviction by a federal jury in Ocala, Florida,
about 110 kilometres north of Orlando, Snipes appealed to the
appellate court in Atlanta. But the appellate court upheld
the conviction and sentence.
Last month, Snipes' attorneys argued at a hearing in Ocala
that jurors should be interviewed about whether they had
perjured themselves by stating during jury selection that
they didn't have preconceived opinions about the case.
Meachum said he had received e-mails from two former jurors
who claimed other jurors thought Snipes was guilty even
before the trial started.
Snipes' attorneys also argued a new trial should be granted
because of testimony by Kenneth Starr, a former financial
adviser to celebrities, who admitted during a plea hearing
last September in New York to cheating wealthy and elderly
clients out of tens of millions of dollars.
A judge rejected those arguments, writing that "the defendant
Snipes had a fair trial; he has had a full, fair and thorough
review of his conviction and sentence. ... The time has come
for the judgment to be enforced."
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