Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

The prosecution and defence, having executed as best they could their preconceived strategies through the middle rounds, are now staggering toward the end of a 10-round prelim, each looking to throw a haymaker or leave some lasting impression in the minds of the ringside judges, er, jurors. For the defence, there was the possibility of the consistent crowd-pleaser known as Donald “The Fighting Comb-over” Trump, then Radler vs. Eddie 2, and now we await word on Healy Revisited and Kipnis Unleashed. For the prosecution, it was the effort to introduce into evidence the Roosevelt papers, but late last night, Amy (“The Judge”) St. Eve put paid to that pleading. So it’s down to a last welter of experts and worthies, with the defence looking to wrap up by early next week. The Globe’s Paul Waldie notes that if St. Eve cuts Kipnis loose before it all goes to the jury, his fellow combatants will lose the benefit of some heavyweight witnesses pulled together by Kipnis’s able lawyer, Ronald Safer:

“If Mr. Kipnis is acquitted immediately, it could be a blow to Lord Black. That’s because Mr. Safer has lined up some impressive witnesses whose testimony could be more helpful to Lord Black than some of the witnesses his legal team has put forward.

Mr. Safer’s witnesses are supposed to begin testifying Friday, but he has asked Judge St. Eve to rule on the motion for dismissal first. If she grants the motion, Mr. Kipnis will leave and the witnesses won’t testify.

The witnesses include Roderick Hills, a former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and Alan Funk, a former auditor and FBI agent who specialized in white-collar crime. Mr. Funk has written a 22-page report analyzing much of the prosecution’s evidence.

In the report, filed in court, Mr. Funk concluded that Hollinger’s auditors were well aware of the non-competition payments and there was no evidence of any ‘intent to deceive.’

That conclusion is crucial to all the defendants because prosecutors have alleged the men defrauded Hollinger out of the non-competition payments using a web of deception.”

There’s a certain irony that the guy who threw the fewest punches to get here may in fact hold in his arsenal the knockout blow—one he might not even have to throw.

Largely forgotten figure now looms large [Globe and Mail]Black’s lawyers try to recall key witness[Globe and Mail]Radler is off the hook on recall [Toronto Star]Judge: Can’t recall Radler [Chicago Sun-Times]Setback for Black after witness request denied [Times of London]