Hatch Sentencing Postponed

Thu., Apr. 20, 2006 10:35 AM PDT by Josh Grossberg

Richard Hatch has won his latest immunity challenge.

By immunity, we don't mean the original Survivor champ dubbed "the Snake" has slithered off the hook for failing to report his $1 million prize to the IRS.

Rather, a U.S. District Court judge has granted a request by Hatch's attorneys to postpone his sentencing for tax evasion until May 16 so his legal team has more time to prepare. Specifically, Hatch's lawyers want an extension to craft a response to the government's petition that he be given a stiffer prison term for allegedly lying on the stand.

The move means Hatch, 45, won't learn his fate as originally planned during tax season. He was supposed to be sentenced Apr. 25 after a Rhode Island jury found him guilty in January of three charges of tax fraud stemming from a 10-count federal indictment.

Hatch faces a maximum of 13 years in the slammer and a $600,000 fine. While Judge Ernest Torres initially said he expects Hatch to serve around three years in a federal lockup and a smaller fine, should the judge accept the arguments presented by the U.S. Attorney's office, it's possible the reality star could end up with a substantially longer term.

Hatch, whose idea of freedom was going au naturel on the inaugural season of CBS' hit show in 2000, was immediately detained following the verdict because prosecutors deemed him a flight risk. He was subsequently placed in solitary confinement in a Plymouth, Massachusetts, facility as a precaution, because his notoriety might make him a target.

Jurors didn't buy Hatch's defense that he believed the Survivor brain trust would take care of his taxes. Show guru Mark Burnett took the stand and offered testimony flatly contradicting Hatch, saying the former corporate trainer signed a contract explicitly stating that he alone was responsible for answering to the Internal Revenue Service.

Prosecutors might have gone easier on Hatch if he had stuck to an initial deal. He would have been facing a maximum five years and $250,000 fine if he had pleaded to reduced charges. But Hatch reneged at the last minute, forcing the trial and, ultimately, his conviction.