Court bracing for flood of reporters as jury selection begins in Black trial (Fitz case)

[Spazito]

CHICAGO -- The trial of Conrad Black begins in earnest Wednesday and Chicago court officials are bracing for a flood as almost 450 members of the world press settle in to observe the former media baron and a list of anticipated witnesses that reads like a who’s-who of the political and business elite.

On Wednesday, the crush of media at the Dirksen Federal Court House in downtown Chicago is expected to be so big that officials have added a second “overflow” room for those who don’t make it into Judge Amy St. Eve’s tiny courtroom.

Journalists began filing into the courthouse at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday to get press passes to attend the opening of jury selection - only four benches in the court have been reserved for the media.

snip

But the case will likely begin to attract more attention once a raft of high-profile witnesses begin to appear. Those could include Henry Kissinger, former White House defence adviser Richard Perle, former Illinois Governor James Thompson and real estate tycoon and “The Apprentice” host Donald Trump.

more

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=d6c4c553-0b34-4135-9a46-b1177a7aec03&k=8781

[aquart]

1. Oh, that day job.

[Spazito]

2. Yep, one should have a modicum of sympathy for Black,...

given Fitzgerald's reputation for winning most of his cases,but, nah, Black deserves only contempt as does his shill of a wife. I am petty enough to want Black to go to prison for many years and his wife to become impoverished and have to work as a maid to one of her former high-flying friends, lol.

[maddezmom]

3. interesting witness list

Go get him, Fitz!

[Spazito]

4. It sure is! This is very BIG in Canada, Black is reviled here

The media coverage will be huge not just in Canada but also in Britain and the US. I just wish the trial would be televised but that is not going to happen so it would be great if it could be live blogged as was done for the Libby trial.

[Joanne98]

5. Media Mogul Conrad Black Going On Trial

Mar 14, 2007 12:45 pm US/Central

Media Mogul Conrad Black Going On Trial
Media Circus Coming To Town To Cover Proceedings

(CBS) CHICAGO Members of the media from around the world are swarming the Dirksen Federal Building downtown as media mogul Conrad Black goes on trial.

As CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports, jury selection began on Wednesday and will not be done for some time.

But reporters also took note of the fact that Black, also known as Lord Black of Crossharbour for his seat in the British House of Lords, was not seen entering the courthouse.

He is believed to have used an underground tunnel to get in, which many consider a great irony with a man who was once one of the most powerful in the media now dodging the media.

"I have no idea how he came in and I gave no authority for him to come in any other way" than through the front door, Chief U.S. District Judge James F. Holderman told reporters.

District Court Clerk Michael Dobbins later said security officers told him Black had passed through the normal security at the north end of the lobby while the large contingent of reporters and cameramen were focused on the security station at the south end.

Black later apparently told reporters that he was feeling OK on Wednesday.

Black is accused of looting the company formerly known as Hollinger International – the publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times and other papers around the world. That is bringing media from around the world.

Federal prosecutors say Black, 62, and other associates cheated stockholders out of $80 million while he sold off company assets. He is also accused of illegally billing Hollinger to fund his lavish lifestyle.

He is charged with racketeering, mail and tax fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice.
http://cbs2chicago.com/business/local_story_073065308.html

[seemslikeadream]

6. Is Patrick Fitzgerald still the prosecutor?

[Cirque du So-What]

9. Apparently not

<snip>

Going on trial with Black are three executives who were in his inner circle at Hollinger.

They are: Jack Boultbee, 63, of Vancouver, an accountant who was Hollinger's chief financial officer; Peter Y. Atkinson, 59, of Toronto, who was general counsel; and Mark Kipnis, 60, a lawyer who served as corporate secretary in Hollinger's Chicago headquarters.

Black's is the latest big trial for U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who last week obtained the perjury conviction in Washington of Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Fitzgerald's office also has won convictions against former Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan and key aides to Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

But Fitzgerald won't be on the prosecution team in the courtroom for the Black trial. He is entrusting that job to four seasoned young pros: Eric H. Sussman, Jeffrey H. Cramer, Julie B. Ruder and Edward Siskel - nephew of the late movie critic Gene Siskel of "Siskel & Ebert" TV fame.
http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/politics/16901872.htm

I believe Fitz was more deeply involved earlier in this case, however. Talk about multitasking! He was laying the groundwork for this trial as he was hearing grand jury testimony in what would evolve into Scoots' trial.

[gratuitous]

7. Rupert Murdoch watches nervously

Can he renounce his American citizenship and skedaddle back to Australia?

[glarius]

8. Conrad Black is applying to regain his Canadian citizenship....which he lost

when he was knighted. It's being said here that he wants to be able to serve his jail time in Canada rather than the U.S.A. if he is convicted. This guy is such a smug, arrogant asshole married to the haughty and condescending Barbara Amiel. A lot of people up here are getting a big kick out of this trial!

[Joanne98]

10. The JUDGE worked for Kenneth Starr on the Whitewater investigation.

But Lord Black's toughest adversary in Courtroom 1241 may be Judge Amy St. Eve, who was picked for the Black case by a randomized computer program. "I don't know of any judge that relishes this kind of case," Mr. Dobbins says, but that won't weaken her fervour. Judge St. Eve runs a famously tight ship. The rules for the Black trial are no cellphones, no photographs, no food, no talking and no gestures.

She graduated top of her class at Cornell, and even worked for Kenneth Starr's Whitewater investigation, earning convictions along the way. She moves fast, having already cleared 200 cases from her docket, and doesn't look to be thinking of entertaining too much screwing around by either legal team. All this she does because she is reportedly dedicated to the law. After all, it can't be the pittance of a salary -- roughly $165,000 a year -- district court judges are paid.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070314.wxblackcolour14/BNStory/ConradBlack/home

[seemslikeadream]

11. Who is Conrad Black from Chicago?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=5384216

Richard Perle and Conrad Black are fighting
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2321102

[cosmicdot]

12. I'm sure the people at the Nixon Center are pulling for him

one can wade through the integrity at the Nixon Center without getting one's shoes wet


Board of Directors
Honorary Chairman: Henry A. Kissinger

Chairman: Maurice R. Greenberg
Dwayne O. Andreas
Jeffrey L. Bewkes
Conrad M. Black <===================
Charles G. Boyd
Tricia Nixon Cox
Julie Nixon Eisenhower
Robert F. Ellsworth (Vice Chairman)
Leslie H. Gelb
Henry A. Kissinger
Eugene K. Lawson
Joseph I. Lieberman
John McCain
Lionel H. Olmer
Peter G. Peterson
Richard Plepler
Pat Roberts
James Schlesinger
Brent Scowcroft
J. Robinson West
Dimitri K. Simes, Center President (Ex Officio)
John H. Taylor, Executive Director of Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Foundation (Ex Officio)

Advisory Council
Chairman: James Schlesinger
David Abshire
Richard V. Allen
Christopher Cox
John Deutch
David Eisenhower
Susan Eisenhower
Evan G. Greenberg
Lee H. Hamilton
Rita E. Hauser
Josef Joffe
Donald M. Kendall
Peter Kovler
Charles Krauthammer
Robert C. McFarlane
Janne Nolan
Joseph S. Nye, Jr.
Alexei K. Pushkov
John E. Rielly
Peter R. Rosenblatt
William V. Roth, Jr.
Thomas A. Russo
Angela Stent
Marin Strmecki
Yuli Vorontsov

http://web.archive.org/web/20050205063607/www.nixoncenter.org/boardac.htm

http://tinyurl.com/pubbw