Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories
These are the days of tea leaves and shamans. While upward of a million Chicagoans wandered through Grant Park last night, staring out over the lake, wondering at the stunning Fourth of July fireworks, the limbo-locked press sought to divine the unknowable: the fate of its quarry and to some degree itself.
Of course, there are always the placeholders: a note from the jury yesterday afternoon (the contents unrevealed); speculation that it indicated the jury was deadlocked—or not. At two o’clock, the jury appeared before their predators as they prepared to break for 43 hours over the holiday. The Times of London’s James Bone, a cheery if somewhat hulking presence, while keeping a respectful distance, literally leaned in to discern some snippet of conversation as they hopped onto the elevator. Bone is a fascinating figure. In the midst of the purgatory, he wanders between the various alcoves wherein the press is entrenched, dishing out rapier thrusts of conversation, equal parts bluster, insight, put-down and pick-me-up. At one stage, he could be heard schooling a gaggle of CBC-TV producers as to the best location to catch Black should he be forced to take a perp walk past the “braying Tricoteuses.” Beyond that, there was a mini-scrum when Boultbee lawyer Pat Tuite happened by the courthouse, and a lot of questions about the so-called forfeiture issue (the defendants must decide ahead of time whether, in the event of a guilty verdict, the judge or the jury will decide on the financial penalty each must pay). And beyond that, the waiting. An impromptu game of euchre fired up in one of the alcoves. Bone approached. “Doesn’t anyone here play bridge?” he asked acidly.
Black’s last days of independence? [Toronto Sun]Black jurors break for Independence Day [National Post]Judge mulls forfeiture issue [Globe and Mail]Black jury sends judge note [Toronto Star]On hung juries and a Freudian slip [Toronto Star]
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