Wesley Snipes Avoids Jail Time While Requesting New Hearing

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) A federal judge in Ocala, Fla., has agreed to keep Wesley Snipes out of prison - for now.

U.S. District Court Judge William Terrell Hodges on Monday approved an emergency motion from the "Blade" actor.

The U.S. Marshal's office mistakenly contacted Snipes Thursday with an order to surrender Sept. 2 - in apparent violation of the judge's decision earlier this month.

Hodges said on Aug. 5 that Snipes would have 20 days to request a new hearing before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The panel last month upheld the action star's tax conviction and three-year prison sentence.

The actor is currently pleading for a new trial, citing "jury misconduct," according to TMZ.

Snipes lost an appeal against his jail sentence in July, after the jury at a 2008 trial found him guilty of willful failure to file his income tax returns to the United States government.

He is seeking to stay out of prison altogether, claiming his defense team received emails from two jurors, who alleged three others "told us [Snipes] was guilty before they even heard the first piece of evidence," according to the report.

The 48-year-old actor claims he wasn't given a fair trial and is demanding a new one.

Snipes also alleges the verdict was tainted because the jury was not informed that his former accountant, Kenneth Starr, who was a key witness against him, was being investigated for engaging in "criminal activities of conspiring to evade income taxes" with another client.

A new date for Snipes' surrender will not be set until several pending motions in the case are ruled on.