Defense Fares Poorly In Conrad Black Appeal Hearing

Reports from the Thursday hearing before a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit in Conrad Black’s appeal (earlier) indicate that oral arguments did not go well for Black’s defense team. As expected, Black’s appellate attorney Andrew Frey argued that Black didn’t intend to obstruct justice when he removed boxes of documents from his Toronto office in violation of a court order, that the money Black and his co-defendants took was a legimate arrangement that didn’t hurt Hollinger shareholders and that US District Judge Amy St. Eve erred in giving the jury the so-called “ostrich” instruction. But the judges, especially US Appeals Court Judge Richard Posner, were unusually aggressive in their questioning of Frey. Former AUSA Eric Sussman, who led the team that prosecuted Black, said he heard “a lot more skepticism from the Court of Appeals than in the ordinary appeal.” Posner called the document removal “bizarre” and said “the bulk of the evidence has to do with pretty naked fraud” (Chicago Tribune, Canadian Press).