Conrad Black Loses Appeal

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 02:24:56 PM EST
Tags: Conrad Black (all tags)

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Newspaper magnate and British Baron, Lord Conrad Black, already serving his 6 1/2 year federal prison term for fraud, lost his appeal today.

The convictions relate to millions of dollars that prosecutors said were illegally pocketed from the Hollinger International newspaper empire, since renamed Sun-Times Media. The former media baron has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence and has vowed to continue to fight the convictions.

The Chicago Tribune report is here. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals decision is here (pdf.) It contains some interesting comments on "the ostrich instruction" which basically tells the jury if they find the defendant buried his head in the sand to avoid knowing what was going on, they can find him guilty.

Judge Richard Posner wrote the opinion. The trial judge was Amy St. Eve, the same judge that presided over the Tony Rezko trial. [More...]

On the trial judge:

A former Whitewater prosecutor, U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve, 41, is described by lawyers as meticulous, intelligent and highly organized.
St. Eve joined the federal bench in 2002 at 36, becoming one of the youngest federal judges in the country. A native of southern Illinois and a graduate of Cornell Law School, St. Eve helped convict former Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker and Sue and Jim McDougal on fraud charges in 1996. She has worked as both a corporate lawyer and a federal prosecutor, handling public corruption, health and bank fraud cases.

From the opinion, on the "ostrich instruction":

The reference of course is to the legend that ostriches when frightened bury their head in the sand. It is pure legend and a canard on a very distinguished bird. Zoological Society of San Diego, Birds: Ostrich, (visited June 12, 2008) (“When an ostrich senses danger and cannot run away, it flops to the ground and remains still, with its head and neck flat on the ground in front of it. Because the head and neck are lightly colored, they blend in with the color of the soil. From a distance, it just looks like the ostrich has buried its head in the sand, because only the body is visible”). It is too late, however, to correct this injustice.

An ostrich instruction tells the jury that to suspect that you are committing a crime and