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Jury For Snipes Is All-White

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By TRAVIS REED, The Associated Press

Published: January 16, 2008

OCALA - Wesley Snipes may have to waive a claim that he previously received ineffective counsel, a judge said Tuesday, after a lengthy jury selection concluded in the actor's tax trial.

Snipes was initially represented by two lawyers who also defended Michael Vick in a dogfighting case. One of them, Atlanta-based Daniel Meachum, is one of Snipes' longest-serving advisers.

Both were dismissed by the action star last year, with Snipes saying he received ineffective counsel and attorney Billy Martin ignored his case for Vick's. U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges at the time agreed to delay trial, but called it a ploy.

Meachum tried to rejoin Snipes on Monday, and Hodges took issue.

The attorney said he withdrew for medical reasons, not because he provided ineffective counsel. But Hodges wouldn't entertain the argument, saying the earlier motion was fraudulent if the new one was true. He gave Snipes' team two choices: keep Meachum off the case, and in the court gallery, or waive previous claims of ineffective counsel that could be important on appeal.

Snipes and two co-defendants were charged in an October 2006 indictment with fraudulently claiming $11 million in refunds on 1996 and 1997 income taxes already paid. The star of the "Blade" trilogy and other films also was charged with failure to file returns from 1999 through 2004.

Snipes has not spoken, in court or before television cameras outside, since the trial began.
Opening arguments are scheduled for today.

More than 60 potential jurors were questioned, and five men and 11 women were chosen. Four will be alternates.

None in the potential jury pool were black - of note because Snipes' attorneys tried to have the trial moved. The actor claimed in filings the area was racist, and prosecutors intentionally pursued the case here to get an all-white jury.

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