"Squeeze Play" interview with Paul Waldie

Late this afternoon, there was a recap interview with Paul Waldie, on BNN's "Squeeze Play." (It's now broadbanded, and should be linked to all weekend. The link is on BNN's home page.) The interview began 40 minutes into the program, and lasted for ten minutes. It was prefaced by an excerpt from the recent CTV interview of Conrad Black with Seamus O’Reagan, about injustice through plea bargains exerted through government pressure, including property seizures.

Mr. Waldie estimated that the defense might only present their case for a couple of weeks once the prosecution rests, which they are still expected to do next Wednesday. Next week, the 13 boxes will be fully dealt with by the prosecution, before they rest. Those boxes are central to the obstruction-of-justice charge; only Conrad Black faces it. He removed them while there was an expected SEC impoundment on them and a then-present Canadian court order forbidding any removal of evidence from 10 Toronto. His defense is: the contents were personal property. He was obliged to remove them because of an eviction notice he faced.

There has been no "smoking gun" in the prosecution's case, but smoking guns are not typical in these cases. Each day, new pieces of the puzzle are introduced; the prosecution and defense are obliged to pull them together during closing arguments.

These charges have taken a real toll on Mr. Black, and on the lawyers. He’s still confident, though. The jurors are bored on “some days”. A defense lawyer that Mr. Waldie talked to said that about half of the jurors have decided one way, and about half the other way, with the leftovers undecided, as is typical in cases of this sort.

David Radler was effective in the first week of his testimony, and there was some sympathy for him because of the aggressive cross-examination he initially faced. Then, in week two of his testimony, he started to “weasel” on the stand, which drained the sympathy factor and may have impugned his credibility.

As far as the continual question of whether or not Conrad Black will take the stand in his own defense, Mr. Waldie opined that it may help him, but the jurors have heard him at the annual meetings.

Kevin O’Leary asked if the tape from those meetings was put in there as “bait” to get Mr. Black on the stand. Mr. Waldie answered that it was plausible. There’s been lots of strategizing amongst the trial lawyers.

There are lots of big names on the list of potential defense witnesses, but little indication that any of them will actually testify. When asked by Mr. O'Leary about the possibility that Mr. Radler may go to jail while Conrad Black walks, Mr. Waldie replied that the BellSouth case saw exactly that outcome. A guilty pleader went to jail while a not-guilty-pleader walked. (No more comparison needed, therefore, to Edward Doheny and Sen. Albert Fall.)