TORONTO - Conrad Black's summer has been long and "pleasant,'' with the comings and goings of visitors and some time out for gentle tomfoolery alongside more serious legal contemplations.
But the troubling clouds that mark the end of November are approaching and in less than two months Black will have to depart the sanctuary of his Palm Beach, Fla., estate to face sentencing on his conviction for fraud and obstruction of justice.
"It is a pleasant summer and it hasn't ended here,'' Black said in an e-mail to The Canadian Press.
The 63-year-old Lord Black of Crossharbour has been at his Florida home, where he's spending time with his wife and preparing various appeals ahead of sentencing.
The former head of the Hollinger newspaper empire has not been allowed to return to Toronto since the July verdict, despite promising to appear in a Chicago court for sentencing on Nov. 30.
Still, he says: "I am optimistic, active, and receiving many visitors, and in a community where I know many people.''
Black, who has since resumed writing a column in the National Post newspaper that he founded, took some time to film a segment for CBC's "The Rick Mercer Report.''
Black poked fun at himself by using two of his weighty biographies to flatten a maple leaf before waxing it for autumn decorating.
"Here we have a perfectly waxed maple leaf, a great solace to everyone and especially to those who, for complicated reasons, can't at first hand observe the changing of the seasons this autumn in Canada,'' he said in the 3� minute skit, shot after the trial at his estate.
His New York-based appeals lawyer, Andrew Frey, said Black was "holding up well under the circumstances'' and spending part of his time looking at drafts for various filings that have been, and will be, submitted to the courts ahead of sentencing.
"Obviously he's quite engaged in the case,'' Frey said.
Black and his lawyers have asked Judge Amy St. Eve for an acquittal or a new trial, saying it "would be a miscarriage of justice to let the verdict stand.'' They have also opposed a U.S. government request for US$17 million in forfeiture and vowed to appeal the convictions.
St. Eve has yet to rule on those motions.
Frey said very little will be disclosed about the appeal until Nov. 30, since Black would have to receive a final judgment in the criminal case before any arguments can be made to the higher court.
"Assuming the sentencing stays on Nov. 30, the briefing will happen during the first four (or) five months of next year and there will be an argument probably in the summer or fall,'' Frey said. "Then it'll take a few months for the decision.''
He added he "hopes and expects'' Black will be granted bail pending the appeal, but that decision will rest with the courts.
"We have some pretty substantial issues, and usually when you have substantial issues and the person is not a danger to society, which Lord Black clearly is not, you can get bail pending appeal.''
Black's Canadian lawyer, Eddie Greenspan, declined to comment, saying his focus was on preparing for the sentencing hearing.
Black's wife, Barbara Amiel Black, is with him in Palm Beach, although unlike her husband, she has made trips back to Toronto.
She returned to the Blacks' Bridle Path mansion in Toronto after the trial to prepare for the couple's stay in Florida, and was also in town for the funeral of her friend Richard Bradshaw, general director of the Canadian Opera Company, who died suddenly on Aug. 15.
"Our home in Toronto is not quite itself without Conrad,'' she wrote in an Aug. 27 column for Maclean's magazine.
"I'm paralyzed over all the organizing to be done before I flutter down to Florida to join my beloved spouse where, courtesy of the U.S. government, he spends the time 'til late November.''
Black has also scheduled a Toronto book signing to promote his latest book, "The Invincible Quest: the Life of Richard Milhous Nixon,'' which he will plans to manage with author Margaret Atwood's invention, the LongPen.
That gadget will allow him to sign autographs long distance and video conference with people at a downtown Toronto bookstore on Oct. 15.
No book tour has been scheduled in the U.S., where the book will hit shelves on Oct. 22. Black himself said in August that a massive book tour was out of the question, since as part of his bail conditions, his movements within the U.S. are restricted to the Chicago area or south Florida.
Those restrictions followed the July 13 convictions of Black and three other former Hollinger executives on three counts of mail fraud. Black, who was also convicted of tampering with evidence sought by the U.S. government, faces the possibility of life in prison.
He was acquitted of six counts of mail and wire fraud, two tax-evasion counts and one charge of racketeering. A money-laundering count was also dropped in May when prosecutors rested their case.
