We bet actor Wesley Snipes is breathing a big sigh of relief and thanking the good lord 'cause he just got a stupendous blessing on Friday.
In Ocala, Florida, the actor has been found not guilty of federal tax-fraud and conspiracy charges, but was convicted on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file a tax return.
Snipes and two co-defendants, a de-licensed accountant and a tax protest leader, were indicted in 2006.
Snipes was also indicted on six counts of willful failure to file a tax return from 1999-2004, a period in which he signed two contracts for more than 10 million dollars on sequels in the "Blade" trilogy.
He was acquitted on three of those and convicted on the others.
He could be sentenced to three years in prison after originally facing a possible 16 years.
Co-defendants Eddie Ray Kahn, the founder of a tax protest group, and Douglas P Rosile, a de-licensed accountant, were convicted by the same jury of tax fraud and conspiracy.
Snipes, who starred in the Blade films and White Men Can't Jump, is among the most famous targets of an IRS criminal investigation, and his prosecution was key for the government.
The actor used tax protest arguments long rejected by courts but still continuing to find adherents.
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