Wesley Snipes is currently preparing to film a movie in Atlanta 
 
 Hollywood star Wesley Snipes has been ordered by a US judge to surrender to authorities to start serving a three-year jail term for tax-related crimes. 
 
 Florida Judge William Terrell Hodges rejected a request from Snipes' lawyers to review his sentence and grant a new trial. 
 
 In April 2008, Snipes, 48, was found guilty of deliberately failing to file tax returns for 1999, 2000 and 2001. 
 
 He then launched an appeal and has been on bail ever since. 
 
 The actor, whose films include the Blade trilogy, was cleared of more serious fraud and conspiracy charges. 
 
 'Calm and positive' 
 
 "The defendant Snipes had a fair trial; he has had a full, fair and thorough review of his conviction and sentence," Judge Hodges wrote in his decision on Friday. 
 
 "The time has come for the judgement to be enforced," he said. 
 
 It was not immediately clear when and where Snipes had to surrender. 
 
 However, his defence attorney Daniel Meachum later said he planned to appeal at the US Supreme Court, the Associated Press reports. 
 
 Mr Meachum said that Snipes, who was in Atlanta to film a movie, remained "incredibly calm and positive". 
 
 "He wasn't angered. He wasn't bitter." 
 
 Snipes' lawyers had argued his 2008 sentence was "unreasonable". 
 
 The actor earned more than $37m (£24m) in gross income between 1999 and 2004 but did not file individual federal income tax returns for any of those years, according to official court papers. ||||| A federal judge ordered actor Wesley Snipes to surrender to authorities Friday so he can begin serving a three-year prison sentence for tax-related crimes. 
 
 FILE - In this March 2, 2010 file photo, Wesley Snipes attends the premiere of "Brooklyn's Finest" in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, file) (Associated Press) 
 
 U.S. District Court Judge William Terrell Hodges in Florida rejected a request from the actor's attorneys to review Snipes' sentence and grant a new trial. Snipes has been free on bond for more than two years while appealing. 
 
 "The defendant Snipes had a fair trial; he has had a full, fair and thorough review of his conviction and sentence. ... The time has come for the judgment to be enforced," the judge wrote in his 16-page decision. 
 
 The 48-year-old star of the "Blade" trilogy and Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever" was convicted in 2008 on three misdemeanor counts of willful failure to file his income tax returns. He was acquitted of two more serious felony charges. 
 
 The Federal Bureau of Prisons would not say where Snipes was to surrender until he was in custody, though inmates generally are placed within 500 miles (800 kilometers) of their residence, said spokesman Edmond Ross. 
 
 Snipes' defense attorney Daniel Meachum said an e-mail to The Associated Press that he plans to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court now. 
 
 Meachum said he didn't know when and where Snipes would report to prison, although he said later in an interview that he didn't expect the Bureau of Prisons to take custody of the actor for another five to seven days. Snipes is in Atlanta, preparing to film the movie "Master Daddy." 
 
 "Wesley is incredibly calm and positive," Meachum said in an interview in his Atlanta office. "He's wasn't angered. He wasn't bitter." 
 
 Snipes' attorneys had argued at a hearing earlier this week that jurors should be interviewed about whether they had perjured themselves by stating during jury selection that they didn't have preconceived opinions about the case. Meachum said he had received e-mails from two former jurors who claimed other jurors thought Snipes was guilty even before the trial started. 
 
 Snipes' attorneys also claimed a new trial should be granted because of the testimony of Kenneth Starr, a former financial adviser to celebrities who admitted cheating wealthy and elderly clients out of tens of millions of dollars during a plea hearing last September in New York. Snipes' attorneys wanted to know if Internal Revenue Service agents working on the Snipes case also knew that Starr was under investigation. 
 
 The judge said that questioning jurors about their decision would compromise the privacy of jury deliberations. He also said that Starr was not being investigated at the time of Snipes' trial and that any inquiries would amount to "a fishing expedition." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Kate Brumback and Marina Hutchinson in Atlanta contributed to this report.
– Wesley Snipes has been ordered to report to jail to begin serving his three-year sentence for tax evasion. A judge rejected the Blade star's request for a new trial, reports the BBC. "The defendant Snipes had a fair trial," he wrote. "The time has come for the judgment to be enforced." No comment from Snipes, who was in Atlanta to film a movie, but his attorney says he'll appeal to the Supreme Court, notes AP. He doesn't expect the actor to be taken into custody for about a week and says Snipes is "incredibly calm and positive."