CHICAGO (AP) - The start of fallen media tycoon Conrad M. Black's racketeering and fraud trial was postponed for one day Monday, and attorneys said the reason was that a juror failed to come to court.
U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve had planned to swear in the jury and launch the trial Monday morning with an opening statement from Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey H. Cramer.
But she ended up postponing proceedings until Tuesday.
Court officials gave no reason for the delay. Attorneys who spoke only on condition of anonymity because the matter had not been discussed in open court said the reason for the delay was a juror misunderstood instructions and failed to show up.
Meanwhile, there was a flurry when two journalists said Black's wife, Barbara Amiel Black, insulted a Canadian Broadcasting Corp. producer in an incident at an elevator near the 12th floor courtroom.
Producer Melanie Glanz was outside the elevator and said afterward she didn't hear the remark. But reporters Stefani Langenegger of CBC and Joanna Walters of the London-based Daily Express were in the elevator. They said Black's wife directed an insult at Glanz and then said, 'You're all vermin and I'm sick of it,' plainly directing her comment to reporters.
'I lost my cool today,' she later told an acquaintance twice in full hearing of several reporters in the courtroom.
When asked about the incident, Black defense attorney Edward M. Genson said: 'I wasn't there. I would suggest I do not think that is something she would do, knowing Lady Black as I do.'
Black, 62, is accused of swindling the Hollinger International newspaper empire he once ran out of $84 million. Three former Hollinger executives are on trial with him. The defendants deny anything they did was against the law.
The government's star witness, David Radler, the former No. 2 man at Hollinger under Black, reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in a civil lawsuit on Friday and with his former employer on Sunday.
When the lawyers arrived Monday morning, Genson urged St. Eve to question the jurors on whether they had read anything about the settlements. St. Eve said she would speak with the jurors in her chambers about that.
After Cramer delivers the opening statement for the government Tuesday morning, Genson is due to deliver an opening statement on behalf of Black.
Hollinger International at one time owned the Chicago Sun-Times, the Toronto-based National Post, the Daily Telegraph of London and the Jerusalem Post as well as hundreds of community papers in the United States and Canada.
All of the large papers except the Sun-Times have been sold and the name of the company has been changed to Sun-Times Media Group.
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© 2007 AFX News
