Wesley Snipes asked a court to let him stay free on bail while he appeals his conviction and three-year prison term for failing to file income tax returns...In court papers filed in U.S. District Court in Ocala, Florida, Snipes’s lawyers argued that his appeal raises "substantial" questions that are likely to result in a new trial or a shorter prison sentence, and that he isn’t a danger to the community or likely to flee. Snipes, 45, was found guilty Feb. 1 in federal court in Ocala, Florida, on three misdemeanor counts. U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges sentenced him April 24 to the maximum three years in prison. Prosecutors estimated that Snipes failed to pay $15.6 million in income taxes over six years. He also hid millions of dollars in offshore accounts and threatened U.S. government employees, including one who rejected a $4 million refund claim as frivolous, the government said in court papers.
