while i don't care for the crowing part, if mr. snipes had just received a slap on the wrist, the publicity would have been tremendously damaging. it would have encouraged others to follow in his footsteps, figuring the risk was worth it.

"One of the main purposes which drives selective prosecution in tax cases is deterrence," the judge said, while denying it had anything to do with his sentence. "In some instances, that means those of celebrity stand greater risk of prosecution. But there's nothing unusual about it, nor is there anything unlawful about it. It's the way the system works."

Let me parse this: Snipes is going to jail because he was naive and believed he was right vs the government--so he has to represent naive people so they don't make the same mistake.  He can repay his taxes + fines, so the only victims are the other naive people that might follow his lead (his fines may cover govt prosecution costs).  

really hate that example BS

this one just happened to garner bigger headlines than your run-of-the-mill junkie. that is one of the purposes of sentencing someone after all, always has been.

Snipes was stupid.  He allowed his inner greed to take over his rational self.  But I don't believe that he should go to jail over it ESPECIALLY if he is going to jail simply to be made an example.

he got the maximum sentence because he was advocating that others also refrain from financing this runaway government of ours, and that was something the powers that be could not let slide.

he got the maximum sentence because he let unfettered greed and stupidity get in the way of common sense. sticking it to the man had nothing to do with it, from what i've read of the case, and i've been reading about it since it first came to light.

mr. snipes' primary reason for entering into this activity was simple: he didn't want to pay taxes, period.

with respect to his race having anything to do with his sentence, my guess is no, it was his celebrity, and his refusal to enter into a plea bargain with the gov't. as jeralyn can tell you, that's a risk you run when you insist on taking a case to trial.

Yeah, he did a crime, he deserves a punishment, but the concept of "examples" is a practice of disparate sentencing. Let's not forget that sentencing disparities have been the catalyst for numerous sentencing reforms...but we're still coming back to the same old thing?  I'm not one to rail against discretion in the criminal justice system, but things like this make it a much more complicated issue than it ought to be.

He's black...

People can't just go around refusing to file and pay their taxes, but maybe the penalty should be a GINORMOUS MONETARY penalty. Like 100 Xs the money you didn't pay voluntarily instead of jail.

Wesley Snipes has been indicted on federal criminal charges for his role in a bizarre tax avoidance scheme that allegedly included him seeking $12 million in fraudulent refunds and failing to file six years of tax returns.

Also:

A typically loony (and illuminating) Snipes document, which can be found here, was filed by the celebrity with Florida's Orange County comptroller. While it's unclear what the purpose was of Snipes's three-page June 2005 legal notice, the document's nuttiness is plainly evident. A fingerprint, DNA information, a blood sample, and references to Snipes's "lifebirth origin" are just some of the document's highlights. Oh, and there's a mention of the actor's nine-digit "global-tracking number." Since this seems to be a reference to his social security number, we've fogged out those digits.

Here, he plays the race card:

In a motion to dismiss an eight-count indictment filed last October, Snipes argues that he is the victim of selective prosecution. Snipes points to the fact that his two "Caucasian" codefendants, Douglas Rosile and Eddie Kahn, have not been charged with failure to file tax returns, though investigators are aware that Kahn did not file returns for six years and that it was "possible" Rosile did not file for two years. Snipes, who was hit with six felonies for failing to file between 1999-2004, contends that the half-dozen counts were "impermissibly brought on the basis of Mr. Snipes' race" and should be "dismissed based on selective prosecution." Snipes, Rosile, and Kahn have been accused of attempting to defraud the government by claiming that the actor was immune to taxation based on the "861 argument." That claim, which has long been rejected by IRS officials, referred to a section of the federal tax code. Along with playing the race card, the Snipes motion, an excerpt of which you'll find below, claims that the celebrity was actually a victim of "unscrupulous tax advice," not a willing participant in a criminal conspiracy hatched by Rosile and Kahn. As such, a second motion notes, Snipes is mulling a lawsuit against his two codefendants "to recover the losses he suffered as a result of his reliance upon the advice given to him."

The original indictment can be found here.

As an exhibit to that filing, investigators included a copy of Snipes's amended 1997 tax return, which Rosile prepared. That document, which you can review here, sought a $7.3 million refund of previously paid taxes (Snipes earned $19.2 million in 1997). The amended return contended that the star's income was "not from a taxable source" and contained a slightly tweaked affirmation next to the form's signature line. The return was supposedly filed "Under no penalties of perjury." (14 pages)

Although 3 years does seem like a lot of time for his crime, and I assume he has by now paid all the monies he owed, since he used his celebrity and race, apparently, to try to evade the consequences of his numerous, ongoing and coldly calculated illegal activities, I'm not surprised that that same celebrity has come back to bite him in the @ss, if indeed him getting the maximum sentence is actually unfair.

If he had gotten a sentence that was in excess of the maximum sentence, that would be unquestionably unfair and I would feel much more empathy for him.