Sideshow: Snipes gets max prison time

Wesley Snipes

called on famous friends to vouch for him, highlighted his clean criminal record, and even wrote the government $5 million in checks - all in an effort to convince a judge in Ocala, Fla., that his conviction on tax charges should cost him nothing more than home detention.

None of it worked. The Blade actor was sentenced to three years in prison, the maximum penalty, yesterday for failing to file tax returns.

Snipes' lawyers had spent much of the day in court offering dozens of letters from family members, friends - even fellow actors Woody Harrelson and Denzel Washington - attesting to his good character. But U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges said Snipes exhibited a "history of contempt over a period of time" for willfully failing to file tax returns from 1999-2001.

Snipes apologized while reading from a written statement for his "costly mistakes." He surprised the court before Hodges handed down the sentence by offering the government three checks totaling $5 million in unpaid taxes over several years, money the government first denied but then accepted. Prosecutors called it a mere down payment on the actor's still-undetermined multimillion-dollar tax bill.

Model, actress and pro-celebrity

Carmen Electra

, who turned 36 on Sunday, has become engaged to rocker

Rob Patterson

, 37, an anon source tells People mag. The source says Patterson, who is the former touring guitarist for nu-metal band

Korn

, pledged his forevers with a ring boasting a black diamond set in white diamonds.

Carmen, who shows off a lot of skin in the flabby satire Meet the Spartans, was previously wed to rad rocker Dave Navarro and NBA star Dennis Rodman.

Camden County College grad

Adam Jasinski

will compete for $500,000 Sunday night on the big finale of the latest edition of CBS's

Big Brother

. Adam made it to the finals when

Ryan Quicksall

booted

Sheila Kennedy

from the house on Wednesday.

Adam, who is supposed to be in public relations, caused a few controversies on the show. In February, he was fired from his job doing PR for the United Autism Foundation when he called autistic children "retards" on the show.

American Idol

Carrie Underwood

, who last month broke up with

Gossip Girl

's

Chace Crawford

, said she knows heartbreak.

"I've been cheated on a time or two. It's tough," Carrie tells InStyle. "I wouldn't recommend doing any property damage, though." (Carrie's song "Before He Cheats" is about a chick who trashes her boyfriend's truck.)

"I'm a 'Let it go, move on' kind of person," Carrie says, "and ice cream is my friend. If anybody sees me eating a sundae and I look unhappy, something bad has happened."

Billy Zane

of

Dead Calm

and

Titanic

fame and his fiancee, British actress

Kelly Brook

, 28, split up last month, it has been discovered. A rep for Brook, who had been with Zane for four years, has finally confirmed the breakup.

According to the Brit media, it was Brook who dumped Zane, and Brook who conspired to keep it all hush. The reason seems murky. There's conjecture the death in November of Brook's father, Ken Parsons, has made her question her goals and aspirations.

The new James Bond flick

Quantum of Solace

, which is shooting in and around Milan, Italy, this week, has suffered its second on-set accident in four days.

Local officials tell the Associated Press that a stuntman was taken to a hospital with serious head injuries on Wednesday when his Alfa Romeo crashed into a wall during a chase sequence involving a truck and Bond's Aston Martin. A second stunt driver sustained minor injuries. On Saturday, an Aston Martin that was being delivered to the set slipped off the road and landed in Lake Geneva. No one was injured and the car has since been recovered.

First, her opening act,

Jordin Sparks

, canceled her concert dates due to problems with her vocal cords. Now,

Alicia Keys

, who performed Monday in Philly, has canceled her concerts in Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

The problem? Keys is suffering from swollen vocal cords. (Sparks' condition is reportedly far more serious.)