Wesley Snipes Really Trying to Avoid Prison

Wesley Snipes really doesn't want to go to prison.

Not that anyone does. But Snipes is going to ridiculous legal lengths to avoid serving a three-year prison term for tax evasion. His first appeal, of the conviction itself, failed. Now he's challenging the length of the three-year sentence.

Here's his defense in a nutshell:

• Not paying taxes for five years (when you're rich no less): Eh.
• Going to jail for three years: So harsh! Lay off, government!

Seriously. The 47-year-old actor's lawyers are calling the sentence "unreasonable" and claiming that his trial should have taken place in New York, not Florida.

Never mind that Snipes' records show he lived in both states or that he had ample time to request a venue change in the years-in-the-making trial's location.

Come on, Wesley Snipes. It's over, man.

"The right to a correct venue is part and parcel to the right to a jury trial," Snipes' attorney, Peter Goldberger, said of Snipes, who is still free on $1 million bond.

The prosecution, meanwhile, shot down Goldberger's claim, saying that no amount of whining over the justly chosen venue can reverse Snipes' tax wrongdoing.

"Wesley Snipes received a fair trial and fair sentence," Asst. U.S. attorney Patricia Barksdale said. "His numerous appeals do not make that sentence erroneous."

Snipes was sentenced in April of last year after a jury determined that the actor failed to file returns on at least $13.8 million in income between 1999-2004.

At least his White Men Can't Jump quotes should be popular in jail.