Snipes defense rests without witnesses
The actor isn't asked to testify ahead of closing arguments today.
By KEVIN GRAHAM, Times Staff Writer
Published January 29, 2008
Closing arguments will begin today in Ocala in the tax evasion trial of actor Wesley Snipes, a day after defense attorneys rested their case without calling a single witness.
"We chose not to call witnesses because there was no need to," said Ross Johnson, a spokesman for the actor's defense team. "The government prosecutors have put on a case that simply does not come close to meeting the standard of its burden of proof."
Prosecutors called their last witness Friday, after nearly two weeks of testimony.
The U.S. Attorney's Office announced its indictment against Snipes, 45, in October 2006. It charged the celebrity with filing false tax refund claims for 1996 and 1997 totaling $11.4-million. The Internal Revenue Service also accused Snipes of failing to file any tax returns from 1999 to 2004.
Snipes, an Orlando native, has denied doing anything illegal.
Brian Phillips, an Orlando lawyer and adjunct professor who teaches about tax fraud at the University of Florida's Levin College of Law, said jurors will be asking themselves what Snipes would have said if he had taken the stand.
"A lot of time jurors want to know why didn't he even get on the stand and deny it," Phillips said. "Snipes is a good presenter. He's an actor. He can communicate to an audience, and why you don't put him on the stand is an interesting call."
Attorneys for Snipes said they made their decision on Sunday to not call any witnesses.
Snipes' lawyers have said he tried repeatedly to meet with the IRS after receiving conflicting information from tax advisers. One of them, Eddie Ray Kahn, told Snipes he was due the $11.4-million in refunds because the government should never have taken the money.
A prosecution witness said Kahn met with Snipes in 2000 to gain Snipes as a client. Kahn ran American Rights Litigators, a Lake County firm that prosecutors said tried to thwart the processes of the IRS.
Kahn is a well-known tax protester who believes Internal Revenue Code Section 861 excuses Americans from paying taxes on income earned in the United States. Courts have rejected the theory.
Kahn and Douglas Rosile, an accountant who worked part time for Kahn and prepared Snipes' amended tax forms, are co-defendants, charged as conspirators.
If convicted, Snipes could get 16 years in prison.
Closing arguments are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. before Senior U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges.
Kevin Graham can be reached at kgraham@sptimes.com or 813 226-3433.