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Defense in Black case looks into juror's remark

FRAUD CONVICTION | Panelist shared info from outsider

July 17, 2007

Defense attorneys are "looking into" a conversation among jurors in the Conrad Black fraud trial about a news story related to the case.

Juries in civil and criminal cases are repeatedly instructed not to discuss the case outside of deliberations, and not to read media reports about it.

The Sun-Times reported Monday that, during deliberations, a juror told her colleagues that she had been told some foreign press suggested the jury was too stupid to understand the complex case.

"It didn't settle well with anyone," said Margaret Williams, a juror on the case. Williams said a fellow juror had brought up the report and that she had been told about it by a relative.

Williams, a Chicago teacher, said she had reassured her fellow jurors that they were all smart people and "let's do this." But Williams said the comment didn't affect the jury's verdict one way or the other. The juror couldn't be reached for comment.

Black, the former CEO of Hollinger International, and three other former Hollinger executives were found guilty Friday of a scheme to steal millions of dollars from the media company. Hollinger is the former name of Sun-Times Media Group.

Ron Safer, an attorney for former Hollinger corporate counsel Mark Kipnis, said he may file a motion this week regarding the juror's remark.

"Generally, you can't look behind the jury's deliberations," Safer said. "There are limited exceptions. This might be one of them."

Attorneys for Black and former Hollinger executive Peter Atkinson also confirmed that they were looking into the Sun-Times report.

DePaul University law professor Stephan Landsman said he is not surprised the defense wants to investigate but he doubts it will make any difference.

"I honestly don't think it's a big deal," Landsman said. "We had 18 weeks of trial, and we're going to have to do a do-over because someone's brother-in-law said something? That would be silly."

He said the comment would have to have had a prejudicial impact.

"It's a regular occurrence in lengthy trials where people would hear from their relatives about the case," Landsman said. He said jury trials have to be fair, but not perfect.

Williams said the jury knew from the judge that they weren't supposed to read or watch any media reports about the case and that all jurors followed that instruction.