Richard Hatch Wants OUT.........
He bared it all as the Survivor television series’ first million-dollar winner, and now Richard Hatch wants to get out of jail — NOW
He is asking the U.S. District Court to clear him of his conviction for tax evasion and release him from federal prison.
If not, he would like the court to order a retrial or hear new evidence about his arguments that he had poor legal representation from Texas lawyer Michael Minns and is, in fact, innocent.
Hatch also took aim at Judge Ernest C. Torres, questioning what motivated the judge’s decision not to allow lawyers to quiz prospective jurors about their views on homosexuality. His appearance before 54 million viewers on Survivor in which he was portrayed as openly gay and “unapologetically non-superstitious” set the stage for bigotry and ignorance, Hatch said.
Hatch, 47, of Newport, is serving his sentence in a federal prison in Morgantown, W.Va. He won the first season of the seminal CBS show and became infamous as the calculating and openly gay contestant who competed in the nude.
Richard Hatch in Another Gay Movie
In 2006, a jury in U.S. District Court, Providence, found Hatch guilty of not paying the taxes he owed on about $1.4 million, including the $1 million prize he collected for winning the first season of the reality show. He was convicted of filing false tax returns and given the maximum sentence allowed after Torres concluded that he had obstructed justice when he “willfully gave false testimony.”
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his conviction for tax evasion and his 51-month sentence in February 2008 and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal.
No comments:
Post a Comment