by Ted Sherman

Created on: April 25, 2008

Guilty or not, I believe it was a gross miscarriage of justice that actor Wesley Snipes was sentenced to 36 months in prison for income tax evasion. According to Ocala FL court records, Snipes was convicted of three charges for deliberately not paying his taxes for as long as ten years. IRS records show he earned an adjusted gross income of more than $19 million during that time and paid no income taxes, and further, he was charged for an alleged bogus refund claim, in which he had said he was entitled to more than $7 million in refunds.

Although Snipes apologized, promised to make restitution and asked the court to show mercy, the judge said there could be no special consideration just because Snipes is a celebrity. He added that he hoped this will be an example for other wealthy people who may consider trying the same illegal actions. The judge ignored Snipe's plea.

In my opinion, a fair sentence would have been to require Snipes to pay all of his back taxes plus penalties over a specific amount of probation time. As a successful actor who commands big fees, Snipes could probably erase the debt within four or five years. He certainly can't begin to repay while sitting in jail.

Snipes was not ordered to jail immediately, and the judge said he would later determine the date and place of confinement. The actor, who has no prior criminal record, said his attorneys were considering plans to file actions for a new trial, dismissal of the sentence or to reduce the sentence to no jail time and probation.

OK, that's where the situation is today. Let's look at Snipe's offense and sentence in the light of other high-profile celebrity court cases. The first one to come to mind, of course, is the murder trial of O.J. Simpson. He was accused of killing his estranged wife and a young man who was with her. In a strange twist of justice, he was acquitted of murder, but in a civil action was ordered to pay millions to the man's family for "wrongful death." It isn't likely the family will see much of that money.

Simpson was later involved in a fracas in Las Vegas and has been accused to intimidating people with a pistol in a hotel room. The case is still pending, and meanwhile Simpson is walking the streets once again a free man. Although Simpson claims he has been busy looking for the past ten years, the murderer of his wife and friend has still not been brought to justice.

How about the case of little, innocent Bobby Blake. who is running around free for nearly seven years since his wife was killed execution style in his car while he had dinner in a nearby restaurant. His case still isn't resolved.

Willie Nelson's case is very similar to that of Snipes. In 1990, he went to court for evading more than $16 million in income taxes over a decade. He received a suspended sentence with the understanding that he would pay it back. It took him three years of heavy concert schedules and recordings, but he paid up the back taxes and hefty fine involved.

If guilty, Snipes does deserve appropriate punishment. However, sentencing him to prison for the purpose of warning off other high-profile potential tax offenders is unfair and discriminatory. Further, by putting him behind bars, taxpayers will have to pay for everything involved, and the IRS will probably never see a penny of the money Snipes owes in back taxes.

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