"Wesley Snipes suggests race a factor in his sentencing"

The title of this post comes from this report at Monsters and Critics of movie star Wesley Snipes' appearance on Larry King Live last night on the eve of his requirement to report to prison to begin a three-year sentence.  Here is move from the M&C piece:

Wesley Snipes has suggested that race may have played a part in his being sentenced to a three-year jail term for failing to file tax returns.  The Blade star, 48, has appeared with his lawyer on Larry King's CNN talk show, just two days before he is due to surrender himself at a federal prison in Pennsylvania.

He insisted he was innocent of failing to pay around USD$7million in taxes and said he was 'nervous' and 'upset' about the prospect of prison....  Adding he had not spoken out against the conviction before because, 'One thing is my mother told me if you don't have anything good to say about anybody, don't say nothing at all.'

He also implied his race could have been a factor in his conviction. 'There is an agenda set by a particular body that benefits from villainising (sic) a certain people, particularly if they come from a particular community.'

His lawyer Don Meacham said they had made a last-minute appeal against the conviction and had also called for a retrial. He also claimed potential African-America jurors at his trial were given the wrong day to return for service on his trial.

This longer story at CNN about Snipes interview includes more details about sentencing issues and Snipes' concerns:

Snipes suggested he was unfairly singled out by prosecutors. "It does seem to be rather unusual and rather bizarre when you had a prosecutor come into the sentencing and say that this is the biggest tax trial in the history of the IRS," Snipes said. "I think there is a certain amount of selectivity going on here."

Snipes indicated he was disturbed by some public comments that he was receiving "just punishment." "It's been presented as though I'm worthy of this punishment," Snipes said. "I've been a law-abiding citizen ever since I grew up in the Bronx, New York."

One juror, Frank Tuttle, gave Larry King Live a written statement that three other jurors had made up their mind that Snipes was guilty before the trial began. The jury's verdict was a compromise between those jurors who thought Snipes was guilty and those who didn't, Tuttle said in the statement.

"That's when a deal was made to find him guilty on the failure to file taxes and not guilty on the federal tax evasion charges," Tuttle said in the statement. "We did not think he would go to jail."

Snipes' attorney, Daniel R. Meachum, said neither he nor Snipes had any involvement in preparing that juror's statement to Larry King Live, saying the show's producers obtained it on their own. "We on the defense team never suggested that the media reach out to any of the jurors," Meachum said.