Death, Taxes and Wesley Snipes

Well, it looks like they finally got Wesley Snipes. After years of dancing around the issue Mr. Snipes of the Blade trilogy, was finally found guilty of misdemeanor tax evasion and sentence to three years in jail. What is so funny about the case is that right before the verdict came down yesterday, Mr. Snipes apparently whipped out a series of three checks, for 5 million smackers, for the federal government. The story that I read said that prosecutors were so shocked that they declined the money, at first. However, by the end of the day they were like, “okay, we guess we’ll take it”. Yeah, right. It must have took them that long to call the bank, where the money was being drawn from, to see if the checks would clear. Ain’t nobody playing with Wesley.

Mr. Snipes case is reportedly the highest-profile criminal tax target in ages (and I was thinking it would have been Willy Nelson). Wesley was initially up on several charges, including; felony tax fraud and conspiracy, which carried a maximum time of 13 years, but they let him off with the more menial three counts of willfully failing to file returns.

What I learned, while reading about this issue is that these types of cases are relatively rare and are usually handled in the civil courts because the burden of proof is so much lower there. I’m thinking that the only reason that prosecutors went the harder route on this bad boy is because of the fact that you are caped on the amount of money you can ask for in civil cases. Otherwise we might have been seeing this case tried by the People Court, or Judge Joe Brown, who as it turns out testified as a character witness on behalf of Mr. Snipes. This is because Snipes’ attorney thought the three year penalty was too high and is attempting to get it reduced. Along with the testimony for the good Judge Brown, Snipes attorney also introduced letters from fellow actors such as Woody Harrelson and Denzel Washington. The court was unscaved and upheld his decision. I say let the man serve his three years. It’s not like he’s making movies, right?

Besides, in my opinion, Mr. Snipes got off easy when compared to his partners in crime, who were convicted of the felony crimes that Wesley was acquitted on; one receiving the maximum of 10 years the other 4 ½. The guy that got the maximum sentence was one Mr. Eddie Ray Kahn. It is Mr. Kahn who got Snipes mixed up in all this mess in the first place. You see, Kahn is the founder of American Rights Litigators, as well as successor group, Guiding Light of God Ministries. Both organizations are alleged in helping members in legally avoiding paying taxes. Yeah, that worked. Mr. Snipes was a card carrying, dues paying member of the group(s).
All in all Mr. Snipes has not paid taxes since 1998, but his attorney contends that his client is being unfairly singled out because of the fact that he is a celebrity. I say, what about the other two bastards that received higher penalties. Ain’t nobody ever heard of their asses, so that crap don’t float here, Mr. Attorney. Damn it, if my broke ass has to pay taxes, Wesley Snipes damn sho’ better come up with some duggets. I’m guessing this means that he doesn’t get his extra six hundred dollar rebate check this coming May. What a shame.

Oh, and just for the record, I tried to Google an image of that bastard Kahn, because I needed to know his race. You might not think it’s important, but a brother like me needs to the race of folks. I ain’t racist, but I be all about race. I don’t care! (I couldn’t find a photo of that bastard to save my life. I’m thinking he’s black, because he got the maximum sentence, but he might be white since there’s not picture of him to be found).

I still say I’m not racist, damn it! Just cynical as hell.

-One Man’s Opinion. Peace.