Conrad Black, Unbroken

CHICAGO — Conrad Black, the Canadian-born creator of what was once one of the English-speaking world's greatest newspaper chains, stood before U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve, his knuckles pressed on the bar of her desk, and accepted her 61/2-year sentence, silently, politely, but unbowed.

The federal prosecutor had argued, on this cold gray day, for a more onerous sentence, citing Black's lack of remorse. The press baron's lead defense lawyer, Jeffrey Steinback, protested that an affectation of remorse by Black would suggest he was what his enemies wanted him to be — "a broken man." Black was unbroken, on that Mr. Steinback was clear.

Judge St. Eve's sentence came down three hours and a minute after a spirited, wide-ranging, and complicated give and take between the prosecution and Black's defense team. Both were responding to a probation report that came in last week advising a sentence much reduced from the 24 years the prosecution sought. The report suggested 5 years. The reduced sentence paralleled the steadily declining wrongdoing alleged in the case, in which Black was acquitted of nine of the 13 criminal charges filed against him.

Once charged with defrauding his old company, Hollinger International, of $80 million, Black was convicted of fraud involving $6.1 million. During the first part of the hearing, Judge St. Eve, in an occasionally chirpy but always serious and compelling voice, took up the extant debate between the probation report and the graver judgments of the prosecution. After this initial review of both sides' contentions she outlined what she viewed as the possibilities for sentencing, somewhere between 78 months and 97.

No one in the packed courtroom, least of all Black, showed any emotion to the breadth of possibilities the judge had established for the 63-year-old Black.

Now the drama began. Mr. Steinback in almost an hour-long discourse called for leniency. He ran the gamut of emotions from calls for pity on a man who had already paid a high price to reminders of Black's charitable giving, scholarly attainments — his biographies of Franklin Roosevelt and Richard Nixon — his continued admiration of America. Mr. Steinback argued that in London and on the Continent, Black, who was in 2002 made Lord Black of Crossharbor, was deemed controversial for his boldly stated pro-Americanism. Mr. Steinback also cited quotations from what he claimed was an abundance of letters addressed to the judge for mercy, letters from the likes of the columnists George Will, the musician Sir Elton John, and publisher Lord Weidenfeld.

It was, however, the very boldness of Black's life that the prosecutor, Eric Sussman, cited as reason for a heavier sentence. Mr. Sussman reiterated Black's public references to his opponents as "corporate zealots" and as "Nazis." Mr. Sussman argued that Black was worse than a bank robber because he stole money from those whom he knew, presumably Hollinger's thousands of shareholders. Black denies he stole money, and Mr. Sussman hammered him repeatedly for not admitting guilt and showing remorse. Black is appealing his conviction, and apart from everything else, an admission of guilt by him would surely put his appeal in a pickle.

Mr. Steinback got one more opportunity to defend his client, saying, "He built the company" and suggesting it would be unlikely that Black would ruin the company he built. After a few more efforts by Mr. Steinback, Judge St. Eve asked Black if he cared to say anything. Coming forward, his fingers pressed together, palms apart, eyes set on the judge, Black said he could add nothing more than "what has already been said." He mentioned his "profound regret and sadness at the severe hardship inflicted on all the shareholders" by these proceedings. He expressed his respect for Judge St. Eve, who, he said, had taken up the case after "an unbroken presumption of guilt," presumably in the press, especially the British tabloids, who have been in a state of ecstasy over the downfall of one of their greatest competitors. Black and his lawyers indicated they felt Judge St. Eve herself had been a model of fairness and objectivity.

Then Judge St. Eve took over, reviewed the seriousness of the charges against Black, removed the exaggerations and specimens of bad law, and rendered her judgment, 61/2 years. The prosecution demanded immediate incarceration. Another of Black's lawyers, Marc Martin, sought time for Black to arrange his affairs. Mr. Martin noted Black's exemplary behavior through three years of prosecution. Mr. Sussman called for immediate confinement. Black seemed impassive. The statutes suggested a delay of between two and 12 weeks. Judge St. Eve gave Black 12 and said she will recommend he be sent to Elgin Air Force Base near his Florida home.

Black was one of the founding directors of The New York Sun, in which Hollinger International Inc. held a minority interest. After the proceeding yesterday ended, Black stood around with his lawyers for twenty minutes counting off some matters that engrossed him on his fingers. Then he strolled through the mob of reporters hectoring him. He seemed unperturbed.

Mr. Tyrrell is the founder and editor in chief of the American Spectator, a contributing editor to The New York Sun, and an adjunct scholar at the Hudson Institute.

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Correction: Franklin Roosevelt is the president about whom Conrad Black wrote a biography. The president was misidentified in an earlier version of this story.

Correction from December 12, 2007: Eglin Air Force Base is the correct spelling of the name of the Florida base. The name was misspelled in a column on page 1 of yesterday's New York Sun. Correction from December 13, 2007: Franklin Roosevelt is the president about whom Conrad Black wrote a biography. The president was misidentified in a column on page 1 of the December 11 New York Sun.