The Verdict: Skimmed or Scathed?

There was one segment of tonight's episode of The Verdict that dealt with the Conrad Black trial. It started off with Ms. Todd announcing that the “critical phase” in the trial is over, in which Eddie Greenspan had launched an “all-out assault” on David Radler. The first guest was David Akin, who reported that Csr. Greenspan ended his cross-examination of Mr. Radler with the plea agreement, and stuck with the liar theme all the way through. He spelled out Mr. Radler’s incentive in the plea bargain for the jury to hear, which is more incentivizing than it seems because of the relatively lax parole regulations in Canada, and the relatively comfy minimun security prisons in B.C. Ms. Todd asked Mr. Akin how successful Csr. Greenspan was in impeaching Mr. Radler's testimony under direct examination, and he replied Greenspan “put seeds in the jury’s mind” that suggested Mr. Radler was the only criminal there.

The next guests were two attorneys, securites lawyer Andrew Stoltmann and CTV legal analyst Steve Skurka. Csr. Skurka stated that Csr. Greenspan was the “clear victor,” for two reasons: one, he established that there is no documentation supporting Mr. Radler’s word; two, Mr. Radler “gave Greenspan a gift:” he pretended that his deal with the prosecution wasn’t that sweet after all, and that he didn’t know about the lax prison time he could get in Canada, which was “ridiculous.” Csr. Stoltmann agreed with Csr. Skurka with regard to the success of the cross-examination.

Ms. Todd, though, asked if a smart white-collar criminal would document any illegal activity. Csr. Stoltmann replied that the answer was quite obviously no. That’s why Mr. Radler is so important to the prosecution. Csr. Skurka brought up this point regarding the lack of documents: what will the judge say to the jury before they decide?

Ms. Todd then asked if Mr. Radler has hurt Mr. Black’s chances, and will Mr. Black have to take the stand. Csr. Skurka noted in reply that the jury saw two Radlers, not one, and that Conrad Black won’t take the stand. Csr. Stoltmann disagreed, speculating that there is a chance, given Mr. Black’s ego. In 1982, he testified in SEC hearing, and seemingly enjoyed himself.

[This episode of The Verdict will be broadbanded as of 10:30 pm tonight, and will stay up until about 10:30 PM or so tomorrow.

[Also, CTV News has an updated report on the cross-examination, which details the points touched on above, along with a few sentences on the start of Gus Newman's cross-examination of Mr. Radler near its end. On that article's page, there are links to three broadbanded reports.]

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Neil Macdonald's report for CBC's The National included an accusation that Csr. Greenspan threw at Mr. Radler: using a euphemism, “rationalize,” for lying. He also said that Mr. Radler was never charged for “lying.” Mr. Radler agreed with the second half.

Mr. Macdonald also noted that Csr. Greenspan's cross "neatly" avoided two issues: one, Mr. Black still profited from any crimes committed by Mr. Radler; two, if Mr. Black regains his citizenship, then he will be entitled to that lax Canadian deal too. (It’s available to any citizen of Canada.)