Snipes jury ends second day without a verdict

By KEVIN GRAHAM, Times Staff Writer
Published February 1, 2008

Wesley Snipes walks to the federal courthouse with Linda Moreno, one of his defense attorneys Thursday, in Ocala.
	[AP photo]

OCALA - Jurors ended their second full day of deliberations today without reaching verdicts in the tax evasion trial for actor Wesley Snipes.

They plan to return at 9 a.m. today to continue deciding whether Snipes, 45, and two men intentionally tried to defraud the Internal Revenue Service of about $11.4-million in tax refunds through fraudulent claims.

The two-week trial began at the Ocala federal courthouse on Jan. 14. An October 2006 indictment against Snipes charged him with conspiracy along with co-defendants Eddie Ray Kahn, a Lake County resident whom Snipes hired as a tax consultant, and Douglas Rosile, an accountant who worked for Kahn.

The indictment also charged Snipes with one count for filing a false claim with the IRS and six counts of willful failure to file his tax returns from 1999 to 2004. If convicted on the charges, Snipes could get a maximum of 16 years in federal prison.

Snipes has denied doing anything illegal. His attorneys described him at trial as a man who had questions of the IRS and said the agency refused to meet with him. Instead, Snipes' attorneys say the government charged him with a crime.

[Last modified January 31, 2008, 22:09:51]