Media Roundup: Trickle To Flood

The media reports, webbed overnight and this morning, on the Conrad Black trial have turned into a veritable flood of articles, most of which cover yesterday's events because there was no newsworthy trial event today. Below is a selection from them:

1. Eric Ferkenhoff of the New York Times has a report that quotes the deadlock note, and Judge St. Eve's words as she sent them back in: "Judge St. Eve told the panel to make 'every reasonable effort' to reach a verdict in the case..." It also mentions that Ron Safer clarified his request in court for the jury to return a partial verdict: "He later said that he was not seeking a [partial] mistrial, but was simply asking the judge to allow the jury to return the verdict they saw fit."

2. A report by FT.com's Stephanie Kirchgaessner, as webbed by MSNBC.com, summarizes the late-afternoon part of the trial, which began with the jury sending the deadlock note to the judge. When discussing Judge St. Eve sending the jury back, it notes that "In making her ruling, [she]rejected a plea by chief prosecutor Eric Sussman that jurors should be instructed that they could return a partial verdict if they chose, though she did not rule out that possibility in the future."

3. 580 CFRA has webbed a brief report on the deadlock note and the continuation of deliberations.

4. Monsters and Critics has webbed a similar brief report from United Press International.

5. A report by Dave Carpenter of the Associated Press has been webbed by the Washington Post. It adds to the FT.com report above by noting that Csr. Sussman asked for a partial verdict as part of an overall plea for the jury to keep deliberating.

6. Mary Vallis and Barbara Schecter of the National Post have co-written a report that captures all the events surrounding the deadlock note and resumption of deliberations. It also quotes Edward Genson, who predicted a verdict for today, and Hugh Totten, who speculated that "the jury is stuck on the fate of a particular co-defendant." The report also points out that "[t]he jurors appeared frustrated as they filed back into the courtroom in casual clothes. They paid close attention as St. Eve re-read the entire instruction and did not make eye contact with Black... or his three co-defendants, Jack Boultbee, Peter Atkinson and Mark Kipnis."

7. A Canadian Press report by Romina Maurino, as webbed by CBC News, fills in more details on yesterday's events, including a more complete version of Csr. Genson's quoted reaction: "'We'll either get a partial or a full verdict [today]... Generally speaking when it's partially done they don't finish the rest of it. They never go back for the rest. It's just partial and that's the end of it.'" The report also clarifies that "[a]ssistant U.S. attorney Eric Sussman asked the court to advise the jury of its options - that they can return a partial verdict and then continue to deliberate on the others or simply continue to deliberate on all counts." It's one of the few reports to recount the forfeiture hearing, held this morning, at its end.

8. Joe Warmington's latest column, as webbed by the Winnipeg Sun, starts off with a mention of Conrad Black flipping "a bird" to the reporters waiting for him yesterday afternoon, before discussing the deadlock note. He passes along a split in journalist opinion: the Canadians are leaning towards acquittal, while the Brits are leaning towards a conviction on some counts.

9. Sky News has webbed its own brief summary report on the deadlock note.

10. Paul Waldie and Tara Perkins have co-written a report for the Globe and Mail, which begins with: "Jurors in the Conrad Black trial appear to be close to ending their deliberations and some lawyers expect verdicts as early as Wednesday." The relevant statement are quoted copiously throughout it.

11. A report by Ameet Sachdev of the Chicago Tribune mentions that the part of the 75th instruction that Judge St. Eve re-read to the jury is the relevant "dynamite instruction," meant to break apart a deadlock.

12. CTV NewsNet aired a report by Rosemary Thompson at 8:31 AM ET. She said that the jurors will contine, resuming deliberations at 9 AM CT. They should send out more notes today, which will give clues to the jurors' collective state of mind. Ms. Thompson also mentioned the bird-flip, but sympathized with Conrad.

13. James Bone's report, webbed by the Times Online, mentions that Conrad Black looked "blankly" at the jury as they entered the courtroom yesterday afternoon.

14. Also webbed by the Globe is a report by Sandra Rubin on Csr. Totten's use of the trial as a strategy to get some public exposure for the firm he's with, Perkins Coie. It specifies his role at P,C: recruiting partner. It also costs the 'expense' of him spending his time as a trial expert.

15. Mary Wisniewski of the Chicago Sun-Times has written a report that starts off with: "The note sent by the Conrad Black jury Tuesday was as tough to interpret as a paragraph by James Joyce." Her report also specifies that the dynamite instruction that's already part of the 75th is the "'Silvern"' instruction. It also quotes an expert, Prof. Bernard Harcourt, as saying that the deadlock "'suggests that there is some dissension one way or another in the jury room.'"

16. The Toronto Star has webbed a report by Rick Westhead, with Robyn Doolittle, which also quotes copiously from the jury note and Judge St. Eve's response when sending the jurors back in.

17. A report from Janet Whitman of the New York Post is entitled "Jury Deadlock: Judge Orders Continued Deliberations In Black Trial." An expert, Lee Dunst, is quoted as saying that guessing at the jurors' partial verdict right now is bound to yield a forecast that's too inaccurate to be of any definite worth.

18. Joanna Walters of the Daily Express has written a report that summarizes the deadlock. Her report is the second one to mention the forfeiture hearing that took place yesterday morning.

19. BNN aired an update from Amanda Lang at 10:08 AM ET. She reported that the jurors are back, and are deliberating. Conrad Black "seems relaxed," although he must be under tremendous pressure. The American media is coming in.

20. BNN also aired an interview with Jacob Frenkel, at 11:10 AM ET. Csr. Frenkel said that no-one knows when a verdict will come down. The judge isn't pressuring the jury to come to a verdict, as of yet. If she does, then there will be a special instruction for them to do so. The judge decides on when the jury is hung; then, it's up to the government to decide whether or not to proceed with a re-indictment. If one or more defendants are convicted on one or more charges, the government may drop the charges that resulted in a hung jury. He mentioned the burden of proof, especially in relation to an upcoming SEC case which has a lower one. If there's a conviction, the judge is bound by the applicable sentencing guidelines, so the prosecution's 'batting average' isn't relevant to the sentencing. He ended by settling upon this week, but not necessarily today, as the timeframe in which a verdict will be delivered.

21. Also aired by BNN was an interview with Bill Lawler, at 1:45 PM. Csr. Lawler noted that most juries who get deadlocked eventually reach a verdict. The jurors have been forbidden to reveal the extent of the split. The judge has discretion to accept a partial verdict, as well as discretion on how many times to send the jury back: the judge can even accept a partial verdict but not for every charge, and send the jurors back to deliberating on the remainder. Csr. Lawler believes that the acceptance of a partial verdict would be favorable to the prosecution, for two reasons: one, doing so might staunch a momentum towards acquittal; two, the prosecution can retry the charges that the jury got hung on with knowledge of what worked, and what didn’t work, in trial. An appeal isn’t automatic, but notification of the right to an appeal is. Requests to stay out of jail pending appeal is routinely granted, but far from a guaranteed grant. 'Scooter' Libby had his request turned down.

22. CTV News aired an update from Rosemary Thompson at 3:01 PM ET. She reported that Conrad spent the morning in his lawyer's office, and went for a walk with his wife in the afternoon. While out, he complained about media coverage of him to a cameraman. The jury is still deliberating, and will do so until 4:45 PM CT unless they hand down a verdict or leave early. There's still an expectation that there'll be a verdict today, but no certainty.

23. A report by Romina Maurino, webbed by the Montreal West End Chronicle, contains a prediction by Csr. Frenkel for a split verdict, with a guilty verdict on some indictments and not guilty on others. He's quoted further, as is Andrew Stoltmann on the deliberation process. It ends with a brief item about Judge St. Eve turning her attention to the sentencing of Muhammad Salah. (No sentence is included in that part of the report.)

24. BNN further aired, at 4:10 PM ET, an interview with Csr. Totten. He believes that Judge St. Eve probably won't send the jury back two-three times; there's the risk of a coercion issue to consider. The jury may very well deliver an unexpected verdict. On the subject of appeal, he also said it's too early to predict the outcome of any appeal of a guilty verdict. Any appeal would probably launch right after the verdict, but is likely to take a year to be settled given the current timeframe of appeals.

25. As part of the intermittent broadcasts on the wait, BNN aired an interview with Steve Merican, an appellate lawyer, at 5:12 PM ET. He thinks the jury is “fatigued,” or tired. They're probably engaged in conflict resolution, and will give the reach for unanimity “a good try.” The deadlock could be due to emerging personality conflicts which are being smoothed out. He thinks that the request for advice from the judge is “profoundly pro-defense.” He would also advise against accepting a partial verdict if asked by the defense. After the interview was over, co-host Jacquie McNish agreed with Csr. Merican, and speculated that a partial verdict would be the worst outcome for both prosecution and defense.

26. Interviewed right afterwards, at 5:23 PM ET, was Andrew Stoltmann, a securities lawyer and regular trial watcher. Csr. Stoltmann discussed the weaknesses of the prosecution’s case. The biggest problem that the prosecutors had was the volume of evidence and length of the trial. He gave general 50-50 odds for cases of this sort to end in a hung jury after a deadlock. Adding the RICO charge was the biggest mistake the prosecutors made; the concentration of accounting details in the presentation of the evidence was another mistake. A third one may have been trying the four defendants together, because the trial had to be dragged out even further. Three or more defendants tends to make a prosecution unwieldy.

Csr. Stoltmann guessed that the jury is deadlocked on at least some of the charges relating to the non-compete payments. He also said that the prosecution had a good case, especially with the generally easy-to-prove obstruction of justice charge, but they slipped because they“overtried” it. If there is a hung jury, the best bet is the prosecution will refile charges. The prosecution has much better odds when retrying a case of this sort, as the presentation is usually much improved.

What the SEC may do is important for Mr. Black right now because he signed a consent decree in 1982, which gives the regulatory agency the right to go after him with criminal charges for any further violation of securities laws. Most likely, they’ll lay a charge if he’s convicted on one or two counts.

With regard to jailing if convicted, Csr. Stoltmann said that Conrad Black will probably not be remanded until the sentencing hearing, 3-4 months later. He finished by noting that this case would have been treated as a civil trial, unambiguously, pre-Enron.

27. At about 5:40 PM ET, Ms. Lang reported on BNN that the jury is done for the day, with no verdict reached.

28. BBC News has webbed a report that summarizes yesterday afternoon's deadlock and today's continuance of deliberations. It also has a brief background on partial verdicts.

29. At 5:56 PM ET, Ms. Lang reported on BNN that the first juror out, a man, looked either angry or unhappy.

30 An end-of-day report, webbed by 1130 News, confirms that the verdict is still out of reach.

31. The Associated Press' end-of-day report is out also, as webbed by Forbes.com.

32. Reuters' is too, although it ends with a brief recap of yesterday's deadlock.

33. A report by Mary Vallis and Barbara Shecter, as webbed by Canada.com, covers the same ground, but contains an extended quote from Csr. Totten.

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Mark Steyn, in his Maclean's Conrad Black trial blog, has written a rundown on what verdict he would consider to be a victory for the U.S. government, and what one would not be. He also suggests that Conrad Black is easy to single out because he's "not driven by money but by strange obsolescent obsessions.... as I told Hollinger execs back then, I think it took his eye off the corporate ball at a critical time. That's one reason I believe he's innocent: At the time he was supposed to be Mister Corporate Kleptocrat, most of his energy was being devoted to suing his way into the House of Lords." A more recent entry, after informing his readers that he's going on assignment, directs his readers to another Maclean's trial blog, with entries by Steve Maich. [The first entry today by Mr. Maich was posted at 2:26 PM ET.]

Matthew McClearn, in the Canadian Business Black trial blog, starts off with a report on the waiting journalists. "The jury of the USA vs. Conrad Black et al trial in Chicago had been out nine days, and the press corps was becoming quite loopy. Scattered on the 12th floor hallway of the Everett McKinley Dirksen federal building, or occupying nearby cafes, the over-caffeinated journalists played euchre, worked on other news assignments or generally tried to occupy themselves as they awaited a verdict. Photographers and broadcast journalists lounged about in camping chairs in the first floor media pen. An anxious mood prevailed...." He returns to the same subject after recounting yesterday afternoon's events.

Also, Douglas Bell, in the Toronto Life Conrad Black trial blog, marvels at the paraphrases of "deadlock" that were used before communicating the widespread uncertainty over the outcome.