Snipes Acquitted!!!!

[LPC]

How can you be not guilty for Tax Evasion, but guilty for willful failure to file??? That makes no sense. I would have thought just the opposite. Can you help me out here?

Snipes was never charged with tax evasion.

He was charged with:

1. One count of a conspiracy to defraud the United States;

2. One count of filing a false claim against the United States (i.e., the refund claim that was filed); and

3. Six counts of willful failure to file tax returns.

The jury found that he was:

1. Not guilty of conspiring to defraud;

2. Not guilty filing a false claime;

3. Not guilty of willfully failing to file income tax returns for 2002 through 2004; and

4. Guilty of willfully failing to file income tax returns for 1999 through 2001.

Nothing about tax evasion.

[silversopp]

Was there any real difference in the facts for those years he was acquited, or did the jury just want to give him a lesser sentence so that he could make Blade IV?

[.]

I smell a compromise verdict. Probably one hold-out who wanted to acquit Snipes (and maybe the others, too) on everything versus everyone else who wanted to convict across-the-board.

[wserra]

Was there any real difference in the facts for those years he was acquited, or did the jury just want to give him a lesser sentence so that he could make Blade IV?

The defense argued that, once Snipes learned that he was under investigation in or about 2002, he didn't file because he believed that filing accurate returns would incriminate him. This is not a valid defense but, when the issue is "willfulness", a lot of beliefs come in. The jury gave him the benefit of the doubt.

[Demosthenes]

The defense argued that, once Snipes learned that he was under investigation in or about 2002, he didn't file because he believed that filing accurate returns would incriminate him. This is not a valid defense but, when the issue is "willfulness", a lot of beliefs come in. The jury gave him the benefit of the doubt.

That's what the jurors are saying in post verdict interviews.

The first two counts were not guilty because they thought Snipes was just a client, not a conspirator, and was simply signing stuff scammers were preparing for him.

They held him accountable for thre first three years of not filing, but gave him the benefit of the doubt for not filing returns after he'd been read his "right to remain silent."

[darling]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22978727/


The recent acquittal of actor Wesley Snipes on tax fraud charges is being taken as a victory by a vocal band of tax “protesters” who have assembled all manner of arguments that income taxes are illegal...

The breadth and depth of delusional nonsense ... is simply too vast to cover in this column...

In the end, Snipes was convicted of not paying his fair share, ordered to cough up $17 millions in back taxes, and still faces three years in jail. Some “victory.”...

Not so fast, say the tax nut jobs...

etc. etc.

[Demosthenes]

Why is the NY Times calling them tax resisters? They are tax protestors!!!!

You're obsessing, lawdevil.

[Demosthenes]

Even though the defense put on no show, their exhibit list has hit the docket.

Irwin Schiff, Joe Banister, Bob Schulz, Eddie Kahn, John Turner, Bryan Malatesta, Milton Baxley, Lynne Meredith, Aaron Russo, Douglas Rosile

It's like a Who's Who of the Tax Protest Movement.

http://www.thesnipestrial.com/snipes415.pdf

[ASITStands]

Even though the defense put on no show, their exhibit list has hit the docket.

Irwin Schiff, Joe Banister, Bob Schulz, Eddie Kahn, John Turner, Bryan Malatesta, Milton Baxley, Lynne Meredith, Aaron Russo, Douglas Rosile

It's like a Who's Who of the Tax Protest Movement.

http://www.thesnipestrial.com/snipes415.pdf

It would be interesting to see how they would have called Aaron Russo.

Is that sort of like not knowing Ray Pope's current status?

[Demosthenes]

And how many of those on the list have done federal time?

Schiff, Kahn, Baxley, Meredith.

In the near future, Rosile.

[Dezcad]

Even though the defense put on no show, their exhibit list has hit the docket.

Irwin Schiff, Joe Banister, Bob Schulz, Eddie Kahn, John Turner, Bryan Malatesta, Milton Baxley, Lynne Meredith, Aaron Russo, Douglas Rosile

It's like a Who's Who of the Tax Protest Movement.

http://www.thesnipestrial.com/snipes415.pdf

They were going to introduce those people as "exhibits"?

Had they been stamped with Bates numbers?

[Famspear]

ASITStands wrote:

It would be interesting to see how they would have called Aaron Russo.

Well, you could call Aaron Russo.

But it would be llllloooonnnnnnnngggg distance, and the connection would probably be pretty bad.

OK, I'll go to my room now.

[Doktor Avalanche]

ASITStands wrote:

It would be interesting to see how they would have called Aaron Russo.

Well, you could call Aaron Russo.

But it would be llllloooonnnnnnnngggg distance, and the connection would probably be pretty bad.

OK, I'll go to my room now.

I think I still have my Ouija board up in the attic.

[Famspear]

Sentencing for Snipes set for April 24, 2008:

http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local ... a0d5f5d564

[ASITStands]

Big laughs out of 'Famspear' and 'Doktor Avalanche!'

And, after a long, trying day, I appreciate it. Thanks, guys.

[Famspear]

Here's some commentary by law professor Neil H. Buchanan on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008:

A Conviction is a Conviction, and Wesley Snipes was Convicted

On Feb. 3, I posted some comments about the Wesley Snipes tax evasion trial, noting that media reports that Snipes had "won" were partly true (in that he was acquitted on 2 felony counts and 3 misdemeanor counts) but also partly false (in that he was convicted on 3 misdemeanor counts). Saying only that he had won, therefore, is utterly misleading.

I further argued that, while Snipes could rightly celebrate a reduction in his possible prison time, it was absurd to think that he had somehow beaten the system, because even if he were to end up serving no prison time at all (which is highly unlikely), his tax protest will end up costing him millions of dollars and will give him a permanent criminal record.

That the media have mischaracterized the outcome of the case was brought home to me later on Feb. 3, when a student came up to me and said, "So I hear that Snipes got off." If that is the message that even law students are getting from their news sources, it's no wonder tax deniers find it easy to recruit new victims.

Spread the word! Snipes was convicted, and he will be millions of dollars poorer because of his foolish decision to press a frivolous position. Respect for the rule of law is undermined when people wrongly believe that illegal behavior has gone unpunished.

I'll post some thoughts tomorrow morning on the (lack of) substance of a particular frivolous tax argument; but I felt compelled to make this much more fundamental call for clarity and sanity today.

http://michaeldorf.org/2008/02/convicti ... esley.html

Neil H. Buchanan, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., J.D., is Associate Professor of Law at The George Washington University Law School.

[Nikki]

What else would you expect from someone who has sold his soul to the BAR, is intimidated by the IRS, and is part of the conspiracy to pound these lies into the heads of people trying to study law?

We now return you to your regularly scheduled, non sovereign, sane discussion.

[Demosthenes]

Entertaining interview of Bernhoft on his Snipes victory:

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/

[Dezcad]

Some of this stuff is absolutely surreal, even in a surreal world, and you have to step back and ask yourself, "What's going on here?"

Was he referring to this?

[Doktor Avalanche]

Snipes does have nice penmanship.

Almost as nice as this guy's: