Marion County -- Racist?

Is Marion County's Ocala the "most racially discriminatory venue" in Florida? Yes, according to Wesley Snipes' lawyer Richard Bernhoft:

In a motion filed Monday in U.S. District Court, Snipes' lawyer argued that the U.S. Attorney's Office willfully selected the Marion County seat of Ocala because prosecutors "deliberately chose the most racially discriminatory venue available to the government with the best possibility of an all-white Southern jury where Snipes has never resided."

Snipes' co-defendant, Eddie Ray Kahn, operated his Guiding Light of God Ministries, which prosecutors claim provided tax evasion information, from neighboring Lake County.

The motion, which seeks to have the charges dismissed or the trial moved to New York, describes the area as "a hotbed of Klan activity where the Klan adopted highways to commemorate the Klan and the Confederate flag flies over government property."

You gotta wonder about an attorney whose publicity head shot actually has him gripping an unlit cigar.

Anyone know who Snipes' local counsel is?