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On CTV NewsNet, Steve Skurka noted that the procedure used to vet the jury in Judge St. Eve's courtroom is quite different from what a Canadian judge would have used: either a mistrial would have been declared, or else the jurors would have been questioned in a sitting court, letting the prosecution and defense hear. With regard to the former, though, he noted that re-selection of a jury could take months for this case, so it's not that surprising that a mistrial was not declared.

[UPDATE: Judge St. Eve will be checking if the jurors have read reports on either of the settlements with Mr. Radler, and whether jurors have been influenced by any reports that they have read. It is still likely that the trial will proceed according to the revised schedule, with opening arguments starting this morning. His prediction: The first witness will be on the stand as of noon tomorrow.]

[UPDATE 2, Csr. Skurka's summation of the prosecutor's opening statement: the opening argument resembled a closing address to him. It included a brief description of Conrad Black’s rise. Csr. Cramer said later that Mr. Black lost his original “vision,” and consequently got rid of smaller community newspapers. Cramer described the non-compete agreements (at the heart of the first nine of the charges) as a “scheme.” They weren’t required for the sales of the newspapers, even though Mr. Black said that they were. The prosecutor described the defendants as “sophisticated,” and at the end, pointed to all of them and proclaimed them all to be guilty.]

(A Reuters revised report on the prosecution's opening statement has been posted. So has one in the North County Times of California, which contains these two quotes from Csr. Cramer: the defendants had made a "'bold money grab'," and a more detailed one: '"They thought that they were being told the truth because they had no need to doubt it,' Cramer said of the board members. 'But they weren't.'

'"Same thing with the auditors, same thing with the shareholders. They lied to them,' he said.")

[Skurka also summarized what part of the defense's argument he had heard, as of about 1 PM EDT, or 12 PM CDT. Csr. Genson denied any parallel between the Enron case and this one. He further said that Hollinger Int'l was in fact stolen from Black. The charges are an “outrage.” As of time of Csr. Skurka's report, Genson was recounting Black’s history. ]

[UPDATE 3: Subsequent to that last report, Skurka added that Csr. Genson had impressed the jury; they like him, and were responsive to his delivery. The company fell apart, according to Genson, because of corporate governance issues, not because of Conrad Black. Csr. Genson brought up Radler needing to settle for business reasons, and that Izzy Asper did require the non-compete agreement, as it was actually carved out, as part of the CanWest sale deal. ]

[UPDATE 4: Lisa LaFlamme has reported that the infamous box-removal tapes, filmed on security cam at 10 Toronto Street, were part of the prosecution's opening-statement presentation. This National Post write-up contains the defense response to those tapes: "Mr. Genson countered that Lord Black's lawyers had not yet been served papers by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission when he removed some personal effects including family photos and some copies of other documents." It also discloses that Csr. Gerson intends to prove that Conrad Black paid for the Bora Bora trip himself.]

He also brought up the possibility of Barbara Black testifying for the defense, but concluded that it was quite unlikely, given her outburst. The risk that she may react in a similar way on the witness stand is just too great for the defense team to take that chance.