District Court Issues Order in Snipes Case

Following the 11th Circuit's affirmance last month of actor Wesley Snipes' tax conviction and sentence, the district court yesterday issued this order:

On July 16, 2010, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion affirming this Court’s judgment of conviction and sentence against Defendant Wesley Trent Snipes. ...

Since the date of the Circuit Court’s opinion, several motions have been filed by both sides: (1) the United States’s Motion to Revoke Snipes’s Bail (Doc. 526); (2) Wesley Snipes’s Motion for Permission to Interview Jurors Pursuant to Local Rule 5.01 (Doc. 527); (3) Defendant Snipes’s Motion for Bail Pending Rule 33 Motion And Response in Opposition to Government’s Motion to Revoke Bail Pending Appeal (Doc. 529); and (4) Wesley Snipes’s Second Motion for Permission to Interview Jurors Pursuant to Local Rule 5.01 (Doc. 530). In addition, the Defendant states in his Motion for Bail (Doc. 529) that he intends to file a motion for a new trial pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 33.

In light of the Defendant’s statements in his Motion for Bail, the Defendant may, if he so chooses, file a motion for new trial under Fed. R. Crim. P. 33 within twenty (20) days from the date of this Order. The United States shall file a response to any such motion for new trial within twenty (20) days of service. The Court will reserve ruling on all motions until receipt of a mandate, and until all pending motions (including any anticipated motion for new trial) are fully briefed and ripe for disposition.