Tweet
Wesley Snipes Alleges Racism, Seeks Trial Venue Change
POSTED: 8:38 am EST November 8, 2007
UPDATED: 11:39 am EST November 8, 2007
OCALA, Fla. -- Wesley Snipes claims a central Florida county is too racist to allow the black actor to get a fair trial on tax evasion charges. In a motion filed this week in U.S. District Court, Snipes' lawyer Robert Bernhoft argued that the U.S. Attorney's Office willfully selected the Marion County seat of Ocala as the site of the trial because prosecutors "deliberately chose the most racially discriminatory venue available to the government with the best possibility of an all-white southern jury where Snipes has never resided."
Snipes' motion filed Monday seeks to have the charges dismissed or moved to New York. Snipes' co-defendant Eddie Ray Kahn operated his Guiding Light of God Ministries, which prosecutors claim provided tax evasion information, from neighboring Lake County. The motion describes the area as "a hotbed of Klan activity where the Klan adopted highways to commemorate the Klan and the Confederate flag flies over government property." Steve Cole, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa, and Bernhoft didn't immediately return calls seeking comment Thursday.
Chief Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgway dismissed the racism argument. "That's perhaps the most outrageous claim I've ever heard made in open court," Ridgway said. "I've been practicing here since 1983. I've never seen any evidence that there was racism here any more than anywhere else in the country. I think a person can get as fair a trial here as anywhere." Bernhoft hired the Public Opinion Research Laboratory of the University of North Florida to survey potential jurors.
The survey indicates "a greater level of racial bias in Ocala" than in the Southern District of New York, according to a report filed with the motion. Among other questions, the survey asked whether respondents saw the Confederate flag as a symbol of pride instead of prejudice. In Ocala, 63.2 percent of respondents answered yes, compared with 33 percent in the New York district. Chief Assistant Public Defender Bill Miller said he never felt he couldn't get a fair trial in Ocala. "I've never filed such a motion in any of my cases," Miller said. "If I felt I needed to, I would have." Snipes' case is scheduled to go to trial in January. Snipes, 45, has appeared in "Blade," "Major League" and "White Men Can't Jump," among other films.
POSTED: 8:38 am EST November 8, 2007
UPDATED: 11:39 am EST November 8, 2007
OCALA, Fla. -- Wesley Snipes claims a central Florida county is too racist to allow the black actor to get a fair trial on tax evasion charges. In a motion filed this week in U.S. District Court, Snipes' lawyer Robert Bernhoft argued that the U.S. Attorney's Office willfully selected the Marion County seat of Ocala as the site of the trial because prosecutors "deliberately chose the most racially discriminatory venue available to the government with the best possibility of an all-white southern jury where Snipes has never resided."
Snipes' motion filed Monday seeks to have the charges dismissed or moved to New York. Snipes' co-defendant Eddie Ray Kahn operated his Guiding Light of God Ministries, which prosecutors claim provided tax evasion information, from neighboring Lake County. The motion describes the area as "a hotbed of Klan activity where the Klan adopted highways to commemorate the Klan and the Confederate flag flies over government property." Steve Cole, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa, and Bernhoft didn't immediately return calls seeking comment Thursday.
Chief Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgway dismissed the racism argument. "That's perhaps the most outrageous claim I've ever heard made in open court," Ridgway said. "I've been practicing here since 1983. I've never seen any evidence that there was racism here any more than anywhere else in the country. I think a person can get as fair a trial here as anywhere." Bernhoft hired the Public Opinion Research Laboratory of the University of North Florida to survey potential jurors.
The survey indicates "a greater level of racial bias in Ocala" than in the Southern District of New York, according to a report filed with the motion. Among other questions, the survey asked whether respondents saw the Confederate flag as a symbol of pride instead of prejudice. In Ocala, 63.2 percent of respondents answered yes, compared with 33 percent in the New York district. Chief Assistant Public Defender Bill Miller said he never felt he couldn't get a fair trial in Ocala. "I've never filed such a motion in any of my cases," Miller said. "If I felt I needed to, I would have." Snipes' case is scheduled to go to trial in January. Snipes, 45, has appeared in "Blade," "Major League" and "White Men Can't Jump," among other films.
Comment