A Jury of His Peers: The Conrad Black Jurors Begin to Speak
July 14, 2007 · By Joel
Check out this, er, incisive analysis from one of the sterling intellects on the jury that just convicted Lord Black:
A member of the jury that has very likely sent Conrad Black to prison after delivering a guilty verdict on charges of fraud and obstruction yesterday said the convictions were reached “in spite of” evidence from the U.S. government’s star witness, David Radler.
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[Juror Monica] Prince said she also believed Mr. Radler was “covering for his buddy” and trying “to cover for Black” during his weeklong testimony in the four-month trial.
Can there be any doubt that Lord Black should have opted for a bench trial?
I guess it’s that old “he’s rich so he must be guilty” thing. As in… “I don’t have to listen to the evidence, he’s rich, so he must have stolen the money!”
I’ve met people who think that way. Only way to change their mind was with a baseball bat. Applied to the skull…
Problem for Black was that he was issued a court order not remove anything from his offices. He than got caught on a security camera loading 13 boxes into his limo. Guilty by video on the obstruction of justice charge.
The obstruction of justice charge pertained to obstruction of an investigation in the United States. The court order Lord Black was flouting was a Canadian court, of which not action was taken because the boxes were returned untampered.
Reasonable doubt is established because Lord Black had been served an eviction notice and did think moving those boxes was problem. Reasonable enough.
The video alone does not support conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.
Sorry, he claimed he did not think moving the boxes was a problem.