The Verdict: Audit of the Auditor

This night's episode of The Verdict contained only one segment about the Conrad Black trial, focusing on celebrity witnesses, with some attention paid to former Illinois governor James Thompson, the "longest-serving governor of the U.S. state of Illinois" according to the Wikipedia article on him. (One fact of note there is the name of his second lieutenant-governor: George H. Ryan.) The other two names brought up were Henry Kissinger and Donald Trump, both defense witnesses.

There were two guests on, Terry Sullivan and Christina Studebaker; as is the norm for the show, both are lawyers. Csr. Studebaker began by noting that, in the case of celebrity witnesses in general, the effect varies: the two that George Ryan's defense team brought in backfired on them. She noted that focus groups are used to gauge what preconceptions a typical jury member is likely to have with respect to the celebrity in question. Csr. Sullivan believed that Donald Trump could successfully "schmooze" the jury, and thus avoid alienating its members as a defense witness, which Csr. Studebaker concurred with. The segment ended with Csr. Studebaker opining that the former Gov. Thompson won't be seen by the jury a paragon of credibility if the defense team does their job properly.


As is now becoming normal for the show, the rest of The Verdict was devoted to other cases and issues.