Media Roundup: Gear-down

The media reports, webbed overnight and this morning, on the Conrad Black trial have dwindled in the face of no news yesterday:

1. A background report by Ameet Sachdev and Susan Chandler, webbed by the Chicago Tribune, provides a rundown of all the charges that the defendants face.

2. The Saskatoon StarPhoenix has reprinted the Reuters report on yesterday's part of the trial.

3. A feature report by Theresa Tedesco, webbed by the National Post, discusses what a deadlocked jury and a partial verdict mean for the prosecution. It contains the interesting factoid that a conviction on only one of the 42 charges that all four defendants face can be counted as a "victory." Regarding the request for the partial verdict combined with redeliberation on the charges that the jury is deadlocked over, the report concludes: "Mr. Sussman was hedging his bets. He needed to know what the government was up against. If, as part of the partial verdict, the government has one conviction or more, he can claim victory and the rest of the deliberations won't really matter. Conversely, if the partial verdict contains acquittals, the prosecution still has a second chance if the judge sends back the jury to keep deliberating the rest of the charges."

4 A Canadian Press report, webbed by the Brandon Sun, notes that the jurors will deliberate from 9 AM CT to 1 PM CT today.

5. The Bloomberg report on yesterday's part of the trial is part of the Philadelphia Inquirer's "Business In Brief:" "The jury in the Chicago federal trial of Conrad Black, the former Hollinger International Inc. chairman, ended its 11th day of deliberating the U.S. government's fraud and racketeering case against him without reaching a verdict. The jurors left the courthouse about 4:15 local time after telling U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve they would return today, according to an e-mailed message from her chambers. The panel on July 10 told her in a note it was divided on some charges. The judge told the jury to keep trying."

6. Joe Warmington's latest column, as webbed by the London Free Press, is entitled "Tension Showing At Black Trial." It features a recap of Conrad Black's recent spats with members of the press.

7. Andrew Clark's latest piece, webbed by the Guardian, provides a look at the wait that the reporters covering the trial are going through.

8. The Globe and Mail has webbed a brief report by Paul Waldie, which says that the jurors left yesterday withough verdict or incident.

9. BNN aired a report by Amanda Lang, at 10:38 AM. She said that the jurors had included a decline of the free lunch for today in yesterday's scheduling note. Two of the women are wearing suits today. She also noted that both prosecution and defense are confident of victory.

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Mark Steyn, in his Maclean's Conrad Black trial blog, adds his own speculation on why the jury is still deadlocked two days subsequent to the Tuesday note, before concluding that such an exercise is largely useless.