When the FBI Comes Calling…®

March 13, 2007

Court braces for horde of reporters as Conrad Black jury selection begins

By Romina Maurino

CHICAGO (CP) _ The trial of Conrad Black begins with jury selection Wednesday and court officials are bracing for a flood as almost 450 members of the world press jostle to observe the former media baron and a list of anticipated witnesses that reads like a who's who of the political and business elite.

The crush of media at the Dirksen Federal Court House in downtown Chicago is expected to be so big that officials have added a second overflow room for those who don't make it into Judge Amy St. Eve's tiny courtroom, where only four benches have been reserved for reporters.

Journalists began filing into the courthouse at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday to get press passes.

Although officials are expecting some members of the public, the trial hasn't drawn nearly as much attention in America as in Canada and Britain.

The Chicago Sun-Times, once part of Black's media empire, began its coverage Monday but its former boss has yet to make Page 1.

But the case will likely gain local impact once high-profile witnesses begin to appear. They could include former U.S. state secretary Henry Kissinger, former White House adviser Richard Perle, former Illinois governor James Thompson, and tycoon Donald Trump.

Black is accused of using shareholder funds for personal expenses including shopping excursions for his wife Barbara Amiel Black, a vacation in Bora Bora, and the refurbishing of a Rolls-Royce. He has been charged with mail and wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, racketeering and criminal tax violations. If convicted, he faces up to 101 years in prison.

Longtime Black associate David Radler is expected to be the prosecution's key witness. The former chief operating officer of the Hollinger group and publisher of the Sun-Times pleaded guilty to one charge in exchange for a reduced sentence and a token fine.

This week, Black lost an appeal in Toronto to delay a hearing on whether U.S. prosecutors can have access to evidence he took from his former Toronto headquarters. The Ontario Court of Appeal decision, released Wednesday, relates to 13 boxes _ said by Black's lawyers to contain personal material _ that were removed and then returned six days later.

While thus far only two witnesses have been confirmed _ Radler and Gordon Paris, who replaced Black as CEO of operating company Hollinger International _ a New York Times report said Trump may support Black against a prosecution claim that he used company funds to pay for a birthday party for his wife.

Trump is expected to testify that he viewed the occasion as a business affair.

Radler's testimony is expected to come near the end of the prosecution's case and be followed by a dramatic cross-examination by Toronto criminal lawyer Eddie Greenspan.

Greenspan is a celebrity in his own right as the lawyer Canada's rich and famous call when they run into trouble. Black's U.S. lawyer, Ed Genson, has a similarly high profile in Chicago and will handle the opening arguments.

Black's entourage will be rounded off by his wife, although Greenspan has remained vague about how much of the trial she will attend. Leading up to the trial, Black and his lawyers have argued the prosecution have unfairly portrayed her expensive tastes in an attempt to turn the trial into a ``circus-like sideshow.''

``(I'm) always worried when a trial turns into a circus or has a carnival-like atmosphere to it where it makes it difficult to fairly and calmly deliberate about the issues and that there are side distractions, and we're going to do everything in our power to make sure that doesn't happen,'' Greenspan said.

Many of the media restrictions in place for Wednesday stem from Black's last appearance in Chicago, when reporters swarmed the press baron outside the courtroom, knocking Genson down. At the time, Genson told the Sun-Times the stampede was precipitated by unruly Canadian journalists.

Theatrics aside, jury selection is a key aspect of a case.

Experts say it carries a bit more weight for the prosecutors, who must convince all 12 jury members that an accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

``Even if they (the defence) can get one juror in there who they think has really strong characteristics, that's better for them than what the prosecution has to do, which is get all 12 to agree,'' said Samuel Solomon, CEO of DOAR Litigation Consulting in New York.

Also to be seen is whether Black himself will testify.

The British peer and former head of the world's third-largest media empire took the stand in a civil suit in Delaware in 2004, at which the judge who ruled against him called his testimony ``evasive and unreliable.''

Greenspan has said he won't make a decision about Black until the prosecution wraps up its case.

According to Douglas McNabb, a senior lawyer at U.S. firm McNabb and Associates, it has become increasingly important for defendants to testify on their own behalf.

``He's got to be able to convince the jury that he didn't do it,'' McNabb said.

``If he comes across as being aristocratic, with airs, sort of contemptuous of the unwashed masses, the jury won't like him,'' he added.

``He's got to be able to sell not only his defence to the jury but he's got to sell himself.''

The defence is expected to argue that Black relied on the advice of others and had no criminal intent.

Radler, as one of Black's closest associates, can provide an inside view of the alleged misdeeds but could also be the prosecution's biggest weakness, said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University in Michigan.

``Every skeleton in his closet is going to come out,'' Henning said. ``It's not like they don't know who this guy is.''

Greenspan has previously asserted confidence he can discredit him as a witness, promising that ``people, at the end of his evidence, will know exactly who Radler is.''

The jury is expected to be sitting by the end of this week, hearing opening arguments Monday morning.

Also charged are former Hollinger executives Jack Boultbee, Peter Atkinson and Mark Kipnis, who face mail or wire fraud charges.

All four have pleaded not guilty, and the trial is expected to last between three and four months.