by Joseph Whalen

Created on: June 06, 2008

Of course its justice, Wesley Snipes broke the law by failing to pay taxes. Would it have served justice more if Mr. Snipes was allowed to walk like OJ Simpson? Of course not, it would have been another miscarriage of justice, just as Mr. Simpson's ability to dodge the bullet of justice twice. However, comparing these two separate celebrity incidents is irrelevant. Neither has a thing to do with the other.

The real question when looking at these two incidents is deciding why justice applies to one person but not the other. Many people associated OJ Simpson's trial victories largely to his dream team of lawyers and celebrity status. This is why when another celebrity such as Wesley Snipes finds himself in trouble with the law people have a tendency to draw comparisons. Had the legal situations been the same and Wesley Snipes been on trial for double homicide or OJ Simpson on trial for tax evasion there would indeed be reason to compare the two so closely. But to associate one with the other because they are African American celebrities is a mistake.

Convicting someone of murder is much more complicate and difficult than convicting someone of tax evasion. Given the penalties associated with each of these crimes the juries hearing the cases are given very different instructions as to what is required to reach a conviction or acquittal. It is also important to understand the type of evidence needed to prove guilt in one crime versus the other. In the case of murder a conviction must be based on scientific evidence collected from the scene of the crime, witness testimony and police procedures. None of these sources is one hundred percent reliable, in fact the latter two turned out to be notoriously unreliable and ultimately cost the state the case.

With tax evasion the standards for evidence collection and handling are much more relaxed. Forensic accounting practices that aid in determining if tax evasion is present in someone's records is evidence that is far more precise. There are no witnesses per se that need to be questioned and credited. There is more often than not a clear paper trail of money coming in and going out that can be verified direct from source to source. Even if the accused fails to keep accurate records, those on either side of the transaction are likely to do so in order to protect themselves. Therefore it is much easier to collect sufficient evidence to convict someone of tax evasion rather than murder.

Juries are instructed very differently

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