A federal appeals court is ignoring Wesley Snipes' latest gripes.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has quashed a last-minute petition by the Blade star's attorneys to postpone his tax-dodging trial, which is set to kick off Monday in Ocala, Florida.
At the same time, the panel also sided with prosecutors and rejected a defense motion to move the proceedings to a different venue.
Team Snipes argued that Ocala is a hotbed of Klan activity that would lead to "greater levels of racial bias and prejudice" toward the 45-year-old actor and prevent him from being judged fairly by a jury of his peers.
His lawyers have been trying to relocate the case to a federal court in New York to attract a more racially diverse jury pool. Snipes' camp claims the actor primarily resided in the Big Apple during the time that he was alleged to have defrauded the government. (Snipes has a home in Orlando, which is about 80 miles south of Ocala).
Alas, the court of appeals didn't see it that way.
The panel's decision upholds a separate ruling issued yesterday by U.S. District Judge William Terell Hodges, who nixed a delay in the proceedings on technical grounds.
The jurist argued that there was no legal authority for an appeal since the change of venue request cited only a few counts against the actor, but not all of them.
"[The petition is] frivolous both on the merits as well as the absence of any established jurisdiction for the appeals court," Hodges said, per the Ocala Star-Banner.
The judge rejected Snipes' original petition to move the trial in December, agreeing with prosecutors, who argued that Snipes' claims of rampant racism were "scurrilous and baseless."
Snipes stands accused of trying to cheat the Internal Revenue Service out of $12 million in fraudulent refunds in 1996 and 1997 and not filing any tax returns from 1999 to 2004. If he's convicted, he could face up to 16 years in prison. Snipes has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
The trial is being held in Ocala because of Snipes' residence in Orlando and one of Snipes' two codefendants, Eddie Ray Kahn, having operated his Guiding Light of God Ministries in neighboring Lake County. Prosecutors say that Guiding Light provided tax-evasion advice.
To support their claim that Snipes is primarily a Florida resident, prosecutors pointed to a civil suit the actor filed against New York City in 2004 stemming from a paternity case against him. In court papers, Snipes proclaims the Sunshine State his legal residence, citing in part his Florida driver's license and that New York City didn't have legal jurisdiction in the matter. (The paternity case was eventually dismissed.)
Snipes' lawyer, Robert Barnes, has said that venue change or not, Snipes will be ready to go with a solid defense when the trial kicks off next week.
"We respectfully disagree with the judge's ruling," he told the Star-Banner, "but we have always been ready for trial, and are anxious for trial to vindicate Wesley."