(CN) - Actor Wesley Snipes failed to convince the 11th Circuit to overturn his convictions and three-year prison sentence for federal tax evasion.
The three-judge panel in Atlanta upheld the "Blade" actor's convictions for failing to file federal income tax returns for 1999 through 2001. He tried to hide assets in foreign accounts, according to an investigative report.
Snipes claimed his trial should have taken place in New York instead of Florida. He also challenged the jury instructions and the severity of his sentence. Snipes argued that the only reasonable sentence was probation.
But 11th Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus said the sentencing judge had "carefully complied with the sentencing procedures."
"Although Snipes argues that there were mitigating factors that the judge did not specifically mention at sentencing, these facts - his college education, his family, and his charitable activities - do not compel the conclusion that the sentence ... as substantively unreasonable," Marcus wrote.
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