For all the other Conrad Black Trial Junkies out there, Steven Skurka's Crime Sheet is indispensible. His reading of the hung jury tea leaves:
The jury’s verdict in the case is merely hours away. None of the journalists covering the trial are prepared to stray far from the courtroom. Stay tuned.
Kipnis, Boultbee and Atkinson will be free men tomorrow. Their ordeal will soon be over. The verdict of the jury will be not guilty on all counts.
Conrad Black has beaten the core charges he faces including the racketeering and fraud charges relating to the $60 million dollars of non-competition payments.
The remaining charges relate to some of the perks or more likely to the obstruct justice charge.
The deadlocked jury will either return with no verdict on the remaining charges tomorrow or perhaps return with a sweeping acquittal on all counts. It will not matter because the government will never retry Black on any of the peripheral charges.
For political / legal junkies, this trial is starting to resemble Bush v. Gore 2000. Just when you think it is going to be over soon and you'll have to find something else to do with your coffee breaks.... hanging chads! Hung juries! It's like a soap opera that never ends.
# posted by Keir Wilmut : 11:30 AM
