For Wesley Snipes, being on trial felt a little surreal. He kept having these flashes that he’d been here before.
And in a way, he had. He wondered whether this was his brain’s way of protecting him, of reminding him how those previous trials had worked out. Not with guilty. Not even with not guilty. But with someone shouting, ‘Cut!’ Somebody saying, ‘That’s a wrap.’
Not this time. And despite the flashes, he knew how real this was. It was January 2008. Ocala, Florida. Over a twelve-day trial, the prosecution’s case, which sounded rather persuasive as it played out day by day in the newspapers, was that Snipes was a long-term tax protester who had refused to pay taxes for many years, conspired in many extraordinary ways to undermine the taxation system, and owed tens of millions to the U.S. government. His defense claimed that he had done nothing but pose questions to the tax authorities (and was always prepared to pay the appropriate taxes once these had been answered) and that he’d been the victim of unscrupulous advisers. Memorably, one of his attorneys explained, ‘Kooky, crazy, and loony is not a crime.’ In a high-risk tactic, the defense called no witnesses and presented no testimony.
Still, Snipes felt strangely optimistic. Some people close to him had had dreams that pointed toward a favorable outcome. And indeed, the verdict was widely interpreted as a vindication. wesley snipes cleared of serious tax charges blared the headline in The New York Times. He had been acquitted of the main charges he faced, including two felonies—acquitted of everything but three misdemeanors for willfully failing to file tax returns in three particular years. He remembers the celebration around him in the courtroom as the verdict was announced:
‘All of the lawyers are shaking hands underneath the table,’ he recalls. ‘Some of them are wiping their brows. Some of them had tears in their eyes. ‘We won! We won! We did it!’ I’m thinking, ‘I think he just said there’s three misdemeanors. Didn’t he say that? What does that mean?”
What these three misdemeanors actually meant for him would be made clear at the sentencing hearing nearly three months later. The maximum penalty for the misdemeanor of willfully failing to file a tax return is a year in jail. He says he was told that he could expect probation or community service. Instead he got the maximum for each count, to be served consecutively.
And that is how Wesley Snipes was sentenced to three years in jail.
