Conrad Black will have plenty of time to ponder whether insulting the court was the best idea after receiving another year of jail time
Conrad Black, former Canadian citizen, current British lord and now and forever a convicted felon, is heading back to prison to serve out another year of incarceration. On Friday, U.S. federal judge Amy St. Eve found that despite the fact that federal prosecutors dropped some of his charges, Black still deserves to spend a little extra time in the slammer. And while Canadian media might be suffering from Conrad fatigue—the reaction to his re-sentencing has been subdued in comparison to previous Black-related events—there is one common thread that is prevailing: don’t spend your time as a free man insulting the U.S. court system, especially when that same U.S. court system is about to decide your fate for the near future.
Take, for example, this offering from Canadian Business:
Examples of Conrad Black’s intransigence abound. One pronouncement made earlier this year should suffice by way of example. “A moron can see today that there were no crimes committed by the defendants in our case,” he said after giving a speech in New York in March. His comment made the papers, and cannot have been made lightly. Such pronouncements are risky while one’s fate remains in the hands of a judge.
No kidding. Appearing via satellite in Toronto last week, Black also told Moses Znaimer’s Ideacity, “The chances of my ever committing a crime are less than zero,” the implication being that he’s still innocent and the courts are wrong (because there isn’t a guilty man in prison and all that). And these are just a couple of examples in a long history of Black saying, either implicitly or explicitly, that he, like Jesus of Nazareth (we wouldn’t be even remotely surprised if Black did one day decide to compare himself to Mr. Christ himself), is getting punished by an unjust legal system.
Now, we’re not particularly in love with the U.S. criminal justice system. But we also didn’t have to be jailed for various financial crimes to discover things like, “Boy, this war on drugs turns out to be a waste of time, lives and money.” As he serves out the rest of his sentence (which will almost certainly be less than the year imposed by Judge St. Eve) we can’t help but wonder if perhaps Lord Black will be a bit quicker on the uptake when he gets out.
• One lord a learning [National Post]
• The Wages of Black’s Defiance [Canadian Business]
• Black Day in June [Toronto Standard]
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/city/conrad-black-resentencing/&title=Conrad Black will have plenty of time to ponder whether insulting the court was the best idea after receiving another year of jail time&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/lord-grumpypants.gif&description=
[caption id="attachment_76935" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Lord Black is going back to the big house (Image: Brian Kersey/Conrad Black/Getty Images)"][/caption]
Conrad Black, former Canadian citizen, current British lord and now and forever a convicted felon, is heading back to prison to serve out another year of incarceration. On Friday, U.S. federal judge Amy St. Eve found that despite the fact that federal prosecutors dropped some of his charges, Black still deserves to spend a little extra time in the slammer. And while Canadian media might be suffering from Conrad fatigue—the reaction to his re-sentencing has been subdued in comparison to previous Black-related events—there is one common thread that is prevailing: don’t spend your time as a free man insulting the U.S. court system, especially when that same U.S. court system is about to decide your fate for the near future.
Take, for example, this offering from Canadian Business:
Examples of Conrad Black’s intransigence abound. One pronouncement made earlier this year should suffice by way of example. “A moron can see today that there were no crimes committed by the defendants in our case,” he said after giving a speech in New York in March. His comment made the papers, and cannot have been made lightly. Such pronouncements are risky while one’s fate remains in the hands of a judge.
No kidding. Appearing via satellite in Toronto last week, Black also told Moses Znaimer’s Ideacity, “The chances of my ever committing a crime are less than zero,” the implication being that he’s still innocent and the courts are wrong (because there isn’t a guilty man in prison and all that). And these are just a couple of examples in a long history of Black saying, either implicitly or explicitly, that he, like Jesus of Nazareth (we wouldn’t be even remotely surprised if Black did one day decide to compare himself to Mr. Christ himself), is getting punished by an unjust legal system.
Now, we’re not particularly in love with the U.S. criminal justice system. But we also didn’t have to be jailed for various financial crimes to discover things like, “Boy, this war on drugs turns out to be a waste of time, lives and money.” As he serves out the rest of his sentence (which will almost certainly be less than the year imposed by Judge St. Eve) we can’t help but wonder if perhaps Lord Black will be a bit quicker on the uptake when he gets out.
• One lord a learning [National Post]
• The Wages of Black's Defiance [Canadian Business]
• Black Day in June [Toronto Standard]){kind=link}
Hey … doesn’t anybody get it? Black compromised his position beautifully. He’s serving only a few years in prison for “obstructing justice”. What did he do? He deliberately absconded with boxes of evidence which would have surely put him in prison for life. Meanwhile he & his Macbeth-like wife play out the contrived scene of injustice most dramatically … certainly an oscar winning performance.
The Conrad Black spectacle has moved me through various reactions. The first was schadenfreude when he was finally caught. It was a blow for the little guy in the class war. Then I was amazed that a rich man actually went to jail. Then I felt sympathetic as the reports of his incarceration showed he does have depth and the ability to reach out to other people in the jail. Then it was pleasure that he was getting some progressive ideas regarding the penal system. Now it is amazement that his narcissistic character remains firmly in place. He would be a smart man if he were not such a narcissist.
Felon Black just won’t let go. He is like a pit bull. His partner Radler is out free and doing business making money while the felon Black fights the impossible dream.
In rebuttal to the first comment, it was determined by the U.S. district court that one file in the thirteen boxes was relevant to the case as it related to non compete payments. Conrad was evicted from the hollinger premises and was asked to remove his personal belongings.The U.S justice department wins 90% of the cases they try. Conrad fought them tooth and nail and actually had over 90% of the charges withdrawn. The U.S justice dept did everything in there power to not have the embarrasment of losing such a high profile case to one man. They railroaded him ,plain and simple.He is only guilty of arrogance, but that is not punishable as a crime. This is a grave injustice.