ORLANDO, Fla. — A federal judge ordered actor Wesley Snipes, left, to surrender to authorities Friday so he can begin serving a three-year prison sentence for tax-related crimes.
U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges in Ocala, Fla., rejected a request from the actor’s attorneys to review Snipes’ sentence and grant a new trial. Snipes has been free on bond for more than two years while appealing.
“The defendant Snipes had a fair trial; he has had a full, fair and thorough review of his conviction and sentence. . . . The time has come for the judgment to be enforced,” the judge wrote in his 16-page decision.
The 48-year-old actor was convicted in 2008 on three misdemeanor counts of willful failure to file his income-tax returns. Snipes attorney Daniel Meachum said in an e-mail that he plans to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. He didn’t know when and where Snipes would report to prison. The Associated Press
