Posted on 05/19/2009 12:29:11 AM PDT by BCrago66
The appeal Conrad Black is making from his jail cell at a federal prison in Florida is nearing a crucial stage. His appeal was rejected in June by a panel of the 7th United States Circuit Court of Appeals, but the panel's decision conflicts with others in the circuit, and Conrad Black is asking the circuit to hear it en banc. The question centers on how broad is the reach of the law of what is called honest services. If Conrad Black's conviction is allowed to stand, a precedent will be have been set that could leave thousands of executives of companies at the mercy of prosecutors with exceptionally, even unconstitutionally, broad discretion over what is and is not illegal behavior.
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
Here’s an LA Times story on yesterday’s Supreme Court decision to grant review:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-court-black19-2009may19,0,771650.story
And here’s Mark Steyn, who is a fried of Black’s:
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZWMwNGMzYjNhOGJlNjI1MmExNDc3MDI5ZTVkZTk0OTM=
if you’re looking for justice, don’t waste your time in florida.
One more piece of supplementary material before I go to sleep (even though no one is actually reading this thread). Here’s Justice Scalia dissent from denial of certiori (i.e., dissent from the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear a case) from February of this year, in another case which, like Conrad Black’s, challenged the federal “honest services” statute:
Link to PDF:
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/08-410.pdf
Link to Google-transformed HTML:
OK final fun fact: If you read the LA Times article linked above, you’ll find that representing Black in the appeal is Miguel A. Estrada.
Nonsense.
First, the 9th is a Federal Court and really has nothing to do with Florida governance other than the geographic area that it covers.
2nd, the guy is crooked and although I am undecided as to the value of this law, it did convict people of fraud - like crooked chicago politicians. friends of obama, no doubt.
SCOTUS should rule on this law and settle the matter.
The 7th circuit is also a Federal court, and is the one mentioned in the source. Like the 9th, it is nothing to do with Florida, which is in the 11th circuit.
Thanks for catching that slip.
He was accused of the fraud of depriving the company of his ‘honest services’, not of taking anything that didn’t belong to him other than his own time.
Conrad Black is not a crook. He is a victim of Judicial overreach.
Conrad Black was also caught on security cam removing documents that an Ontario court ordered him not to touch.
In any country, that’s interfering with an investigation, obstruction of justice, and it is a crime.
What authority does a Canadian court order have in the US?
None directly, of course. But ...
Hollinger is based in Toronto.
Hollinger Int’l (now Sun-Times Media Group) was based in Chicago.
Hollinger owns a majority of Hollinger Int’l.
Hollinger was under investigation by the Ontario securities regulator, who got a court order to not touch the evidence.
Not a direct connection, but it does have an influence on US investors.
Not quite - He was so accused, but found not guilty.
Personally, I find the evidence against him compelling, but perhaps not high enough to clear the bar for conviction.
And I also see this as analogous to being both found not guilty of a felony, and, concomitantly, also convicted of conspiracy to engage in that same crime.
I am content to let SCOTUS rule on the question of Judicial overreach
Interesting story. I am slightly aware of Black but did not follow the case. Thanks for the links.
This is so sad. This man was destroyed so corrupt prosecutors could advance their “careers”.
And this was under Bush. Obama will be worse. Much worse.
In case anyone revisits this thread, here’s the petition for cert:
http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/08-876_pet1.pdf
And here’s the 7th Circuit opinion, in which Judge Posner, who usually gets it right, gets it wrong (and also comes off sounding like a jerk, flippantly dismissing some arguments and not even addressing others, such as vagueness):
http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/08-876_lower_op.pdf
if you’re looking for justice, don’t waste your time in florida.
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