Snipes' trial move is denied by judge

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01/08/2008 Reported By: Senaxis News Services Source: Associated Press

OCALA, Fla. - A federal judge has denied Wesley Snipes' most recent request to have his tax-evasion trial moved from this central Florida city.

Senior U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges said Monday the motion was meaningless because the change of venue request applied only to some counts and not all.

Hodges also said the motion cited no legal authority for an appeal, making it "frivolous both on the merits as well as the absence of any established jurisdiction" for the appeals court, the Ocala Star-Banner reported.

Snipes' lawyer, Robert Barnes, filed the motion last week in an attempt to delay the trial, scheduled to start Jan. 14.

The actor's legal team argued Snipes cannot get a fair trial in Ocala, located about 80 miles north of Orlando. Snipes previously filed two motions to dismiss or transfer the trial because of racial prejudices.

A telephone message left for Snipes' attorney Monday evening wasn't immediately returned.

Last month, Hodges denied Snipes' motions to relocate and postpone the trial.

Federal prosecutors have previously said there is "no basis in reality" for Snipes' claims.

A federal indictment charges Snipes with fraudulently claiming refunds totaling almost $12 million in 1996 and 1997 for income taxes already paid. The 45-year-old star of the "Blade" trilogy and other films also was charged with failure to file returns from 1999 through 2004.

Snipes allegedly conspired with American Rights Litigators founder Eddie Ray Kahn and tax preparer Douglas P. Rosile Sr. to file false refund claims based on a bogus argument that only income from foreign sources was subject to taxation.

Lawyers argued Snipes had the right to a trial in New York, where he lived between October 2000 and April 2005 when the offenses allegedly occurred, or in Orlando, where he also has a home.