Conrad Black asks U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case

TheStar.com
January 09, 2009
THE CANADIAN PRESS

Conrad Black, who is in a Florida prison serving a 6 1/2-year sentence for fraud and obstruction of justice, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his fraud case in a last-ditch effort to overturn his conviction.

The former CEO of Hollinger International wants the country's highest court to review his guilty verdict to assess whether the prosecution's argument that Black deprived shareholders of the honest services they were owed is a legitimate one.

But Jacob Frenkel, a former U.S. prosecutor who has followed the case, said Friday the bid is unlikely to succeed.

Unlike lower courts, the Supreme Court must agree to hear a case, which means Black's petition is fighting to get through a door ``with such a small crack that the likelihood of getting in is negligible," Frenkel said.

"Statistically, the likelihood of the Supreme Court agreeing to review is marginally better than the likelihood his sentence will be commuted – and both are around nil."

Toronto lawyer James Morton said he would "be astonished" if the Supreme Court accepted Black's petition.

"The jury legitimately could have found that there was theft of company money, so there is a supportable basis for the jury's decision which is not tainted in any way by any legal argument," Morton said.

"Since the jury's decision is supportable on the facts, why would the Supreme Court take this case where it's muddy to clarify an area of law that's really not all that unclear anyway?"