HOLLYWOOD - Actor Wesley Snipes has failed in a third motion to have his tax evasion trial moved out of Ocala, Florida.
The New Jack City star is due to stand trial on charges he fraudulently claimed tax refunds of almost $12 million in 1996 and 1997. He is also accused of failing to file tax returns from 1999 to 2004.
Snipes' lawyers last month argued the African-American cannot get a fair trial in the city of Ocala due to racial prejudices and that he has the right to a trial in New York--where he was living when the alleged offences occurred. But the request was declined.
The star filed a motion at a federal appeals court in Atlanta, Georgia, claiming the decision was erroneous.
But the motion was denied by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday. The court also granted a federal prosecutors' motion to dismiss a defense request seeking to move the trial out of Ocala, about 80 miles north of Orlando.
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