CBC "National" Report on the End Of The Presentations

The National's lead story was about the start of the juror deliberations in the Conrad Black trial. The correspondent behind it was Neil Macdonald. He reported that Conrad had little to say – just a short sentence in French about the charges being a pure fiction. His defense didn’t last long. Mr. Macdonald made a point about Judge St. Eve stressing that David Radler’s plea bargain should not be held against any of the defendants, and that his testimony should be assessed skeptically; in fact, there's an overall stress on common sense. Eddie Greenspan said on camera that he had no trepidation about Patrick J. Fitzgerald’s success ratio.


After the first half of the newscast was over, there was a feature comprised of a CBC interview with Csr. Greenspan, a recap of the charges by another CBC correspondent, Havard Gould, and an interview with trial-watcher Hugh Totten. In the interview with chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge, Csr. Greenspan said he can’t talk about the specifics of the trial. He also won’t say whether or not it’s been a fair trial at this time.

He believes that he got most of what he wanted to get across, if not everything due to rulings that went against him. He also affirmed that he won’t critique his own performance as of now. He did compliment Judge St. Eve for her handing of the case.

With regard to the supposed disguised apology for his earlier aggressiveness, he refused to categorize it as such. He normally does apologize outright to juries when he gets maladroit in court. He also demurred from an evaluation of the effect of Conrad’s out-of-trial comments: what's relevant is what the jury thinks. He also refused to make a prediction on the length of the deliberation, saying that the timeframes are impossible to predict.

After that interview was over, Havard Gould reported on the charges. Conrad Black faces a total of thirteen charges, at least one of which brings his lifestyle into focus. The details behind the lifestyle-related charges were sensational, but they’re not the heart of the prosecution's case. That heart is seven charges, dealing with six transactions. The prosecution alleges that the non-compete agreements were fraudulently misused, that they served as “cover stories” for misappropriation of funds. The defense says the non-compete agreements were “necessary” and were approved by the Audit Committee. If there’s anyone at fault, it’s David Radler. The defense for the obstruction-of-justice charge was that the 13 boxes contained personal items only, and that Conrad was never notified of the pending SEC action. Conrad Black has to beat all the charges; otherwise, he’ll do real time.

Once Mr. Gould's report was finished, there was an interview with Hugh Totten, again conducted by Mr. Mansbridge. Csr. Totten characterized the jury as anxious, as ready to get at it or get it over with. There was no key piece of evidence that will sway the outcome of the trial. Conrad's E-mails, though, did do real damage to his case, according to Csr. Totten. He pointed to the security-camera shot as a piece of living history, and he stuck to his earlier assessment that a rich man should not be hauling his own boxes on a holiday weekend. Csr. Totten the brought up the prosecution witnesses who were “crucified” through cross-examination. He now believes that there will be either conviction on the core charges or outright acquittal.