A star-studded list of potential witnesses was revealed on the first day of Wesley Snipes' tax evasion trial. The Blade star's lawyers caused a stir in the Florida courtroom yesterday when they reeled off a list of 82 names including Muhammad Ali, Goldie Hawn, Spike Lee, Paul Simon, Sylvester Stallone, Tom Brokaw and Barbara Walters.
There were chuckles among the panel of 105 potential jurors when Senior US District Judge William Terrell Hodge soberly asked them: "Do any of these names, ladies and gentlemen, seem familiar to you?"
More drama hit the start of the month-long hearing, in Ocala, Florida, yesterday (Monday), after lawyers hit out at the lack of black faces in the jury.
They say they expected at least one African American person among the scores who were available for selection.
They picked the panel members but now say they feel "unsettled" by the lack of diversity.
They've already lost their battle to get the trial held away from Marion County, which they claimed remained a "hotbed" for Ku Klux Klan activity and was "the most racially discriminatory venue available . . . with the best possibility of [seating] an all-white Southern jury".
But the federal authorities claim the 105 available jurors were randomly selected from registered voters across four counties, where six per cent of all residents are black. "It's just difficult to imagine that in an entire pool of prospective jurors there wouldn't be one black person," defence co-counsel Daniel Meachum said.
"I think Americans are fair, but it's obviously a concern."
Snipes, 45, faces up to 16 years in prison if convicted of all charges.
The star of White Men Can't Jump, Passenger 57 and Jungle Fever is accused of failing to pay taxes on his $38 million earnings between 1999 and 2004.
Sharply dressed in a blue suit and tie, a bespectacled Snipes turned up to the hearing for perhaps his most important role yet.
It's the biggest income-tax prosecution since 1989, when the government tried billionaire hotelier Leona Helmsley, notorious for her quip, "Only the little people pay taxes".
Snipes had attended a prayer service at a nearby church before heading to the courthouse, where TV, magazine and newspaper reporters filled two of the 10 rows of seats.
Frank Thompson, pastor of the Worship Center in Orlando, said about 150 people prayed with Snipes. "We just prayed for favour, fairness and deliverance," he said.
Snipes, best known as the vampire-slaying hero in the Blade trilogy and for other tough-guy roles, is on trial with his alleged co-conspirators Douglas Rosile and Eddie Ray Kahn of Mount Dora.
By Owen Williams, Jan 15 2008 © Copyright 2008 - Showbiz Spy
No comments:
Post a Comment