Rants N’ Jibes

OCALA, FL — Wesley Snipes was sentenced Thursday for failing to file income taxes he insisted he never had to pay.

The action star cut the federal government three checks for $5 million, delivered in court. The government took that money and more. Also a maximum three-year sentence for its highest-profile criminal tax target in decades.

“The sentencing court sends the right message to the American taxpayer — you’ve got to pay your taxes,” U.S. Attorney Robert O’Neill told reporters outside the Central Florida courthouse. “Rich, poor, it doesn’t matter. We all pay our taxes.”

Snipes was convicted of three counts of willfully failing to file returns. His trial was also considered by some as a proof of victory for the tax protest movement. He was acquitted of five other charges, which include felony tax fraud and conspiracy. This would’ve exposed him to 13 more years in prison.

Snipes’ attorneys argued that the sentence was too stiff for a first-time offender convicted of three misdemeanors. Recommending, he be given home detention and ordered to make public service announcements.

However, U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges said Snipes exhibited a “history of contempt over a period of time” for U.S. tax laws.

“In my mind these are serious crimes, albeit misdemeanors,” Hodges said.

The action star of the “Blade” trilogy and other films hasn’t filed any tax returns since 1998, the government alleged. Snipes and the IRS must still determine how much he owes, plus interest and penalties. The government alleged Snipes made at least $13.8 million for the three years in question, owing at least $2.7 million in back taxes on them alone.

Snipes read aloud from a prepared apology, calling his actions “costly mistakes” but, he never mentioned the word “taxes”. He called himself the victim of crooked advisers, a liability of wealth and celebrity that attract “wolves and jackals like flies are attracted to meat.”

“I am an idealistic, naive, passionate, truth-seeking, spiritually motivated artist, unschooled in the science of law and finance,” Snipes said.

His lawyers said he was no threat to society, and offered three dozen letters from family members, friends and even fellow actors Woody Harrelson and Denzel Washington attesting to his compassion, intelligence and value as a mentor. They called four character witnesses Thursday, including television’s Judge Joe Brown, who incited applause from the gallery by suggesting Snipes was no different than “mega-corporate entities” that legally avoid taxes.

Hodges was forced to halt the proceedings twice to quiet the crowd, also threatening to clear everyone out if they made another outburst.

Snipes’ co-defendants, Douglas P. Rosile and Eddie Ray Kahn, were convicted on both felony counts on which the actor was acquitted. Kahn, who refused to defend himself in court, was sentenced to the maximum 10 years, while Rosile received 4 and half years. Both will serve three years of supervised release.

Snipes and Rosile remain free and will be notified when they are to surrender to authorities. Defense attorney Carmen Hernandez signaled in court that Snipes would pursue an appeal.

Kahn was the founder of American Rights Litigators, and a successor group, Guiding Light of God Ministries, that purported to help members legally avoid paying taxes. Snipes was a dues-paying member of the organization, and Rosile, a de-licensed accountant, prepared Snipes’ paperwork.

The actor maintained in a yearlong battle with the IRS he did not have to pay taxes, using fringe arguments common to “tax protesters” who say the government has no legal right to collect. After joining Kahn’s group, the government said, Snipes instructed his employees to stop paying their own taxes and sought $11 million in 1996 and 1997 taxes he legally paid.

Defense attorneys Hernandez and Daniel Meachum said Snipes was unfairly targeted because he’s famous. Meachum called prosecutors “big game hunters”, selectively prosecuting the actor while Kahn’s some 4,000 other clients remained free.

Epic film star and N.R.A. leader Charlton Heston dies at the age of 84. The actor died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia at his side, family spokesman Bill Powers said. They have a son, Fraser Clarke Heston and an adopted daughter, Holly Ann Heston

He was born John Charlton Carter and then took his stepfather’s last name for his stage name. In “The Ten Commandments” Heston not only played Moses, he supplied the voice of God. His son, Fraser, 3 months old at the time, played the baby Moses floating down the Nile in a basket.
Heston lent his strong presence to some of the most acclaimed and successful films of the midcentury. “Ben-Hur” won 11 Academy Awards, tying it for the record with the more recent “Titanic” (1997) and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003). Heston’s other hits include: “The Ten Commandments,” “El Cid,” “55 Days at Peking,” “Planet of the Apes” and “Earthquake.” Heston earned star billing from his first Hollywood movie, “Dark City,” a 1950 film noir. Cecil B. DeMille next cast him as the circus manager in the all-star “The Greatest Show On Earth,” named by the Motion Picture Academy as the best picture of 1952.

Heston also wrote several books: “The Actor’s Life: Journals 1956-1976,” published in 1978; “Beijing Diary: 1990,” concerning his direction of the play “The Caine Mutiny Court Martial” in Chinese; “In the Arena: An Autobiography,” 1995; and “Charlton Heston’s Hollywood: 50 Years of American Filmmaking,” 1998.

Heston was active in the civil rights movement in the 1960s and before becoming a conservative Republican he campaigned on behalf of Democrats Adlai Stevenson and John F. Kennedy. Heston served as president of the National Rifle Association from 1998 to 2003. He once summed up his belief in the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which includes the right to bear arms, by calling it “America’s first freedom, the one that protects the others.”

In late years, Heston drew a lot of publicity for his crusades as for his performances. In addition to his NRA work, he had also campaigned for Republican presidential and congressional candidates and against affirmative action.

He resigned from Actors Equity, claiming the union’s refusal to allow a white actor to play a Eurasian role in “Miss Saigon” was “obscenely racist.” He attacked CNN’s telecasts from Baghdad as “sowing doubts” about the allied effort in the 1990-91 Gulf War.

At a Time Warner stockholders meeting, he castigated the company for releasing an Ice-T album that purportedly encouraged cop killing.

Heston wrote in “In the Arena” that he was proud of what he did “though now I’ll surely never be offered another film by Warners, nor get a good review in Time. On the other hand, I doubt I’ll get a traffic ticket very soon.”

He often appeared at conventions holding an antique flintlock rifle above his head and telling gun-control advocates they would not get his gun unless they could pry it “from my cold, dead hands.” In August 2002 Heston released a video statement saying he had “symptoms consistent with Alzheimer’s disease.” “If you see a little less spring to my step, if your name fails to leap to my lips, you’ll know why,” he said. However, he still finished his term as NRA president after the diagnosis.

He was a great man touching the lives of millions with his activities in the movies and outside as well.