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Snipes Defense Claims Ocala Too Racist For Fair Trial

Monday, May 18, 2009 3:56:55 PM
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Wesley Snipes (10/10)

Actor Wesley Snipes is trying to get his tax evasion case moved from Ocala to New York.

Snipes said he believes Marion County, where the trial is supposed to be held, is too racist for him to get a fair trial.

In court papers filed this week, Snipes' lawyer said Ocala  is located in an area that's "a hotbed of Klan activity."

The motion also claimed the federal government deliberately chose Marion County as the site of the trial because
it offered "the best possibility of an all-white Southern jury."

One prosecutor isn't buying the racism claim. Ric Ridgway called the filing "perhaps the most outrageous claim" he has ever heard
made in open court. He said he believes Ocala is no more racist than anywhere else in the country.

There is no word on when a judge will make a decision.

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