Federal appeals court rejects Black bid to remain free on bail pending appeal News
Federal appeals court rejects Black bid to remain free on bail pending appeal

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on Thursday upheld a district court ruling [JURIST report] denying a bid by Canadian-born financier and former media mogul Conrad Black [CBC profile; JURIST news archive] to remain free on bail pending the appeal of his July conviction [JURIST report] on mail fraud and obstruction of justice charges. Black must report to a federal prison in Coleman, Florida on Monday. Black was sentenced to 78 months in prison [JURIST report] in December and ordered to pay $125,000 and forfeit another $1 million for his conviction. The appeals court Thursday ruled that Black's co-defendants – John Boultbee and Peter Atkinson – could remain free on bail because they had not been convicted of a separate obstruction of justice charge. CBC News has more.

The US government originally accused [indictment, PDF] Black of diverting more than $80 million from Hollinger International and its shareholders [JURIST report] during the company's $2.1 billion sale of several hundred Canadian newspapers, but in July 2007 he was found not guilty on separate charges of racketeering, wire fraud, and tax evasion. In August 2007, Black and former Hollinger executives Boultbee, Atkinson and Mark Kipnis filed concurrent motions [JURIST report] requesting either new trials or acquittals after their July convictions. US District Judge Amy St. Eve largely rejected the motions [ruling, PDF; JURIST report], overturning one of Kipnis' mail fraud convictions while affirming all of the other convictions against the four.

THIS DAY @ LAW

US Supreme Court ruled Indians not US citizens

On November 3, 1884, the US Supreme Court ruled in Elk v. Wilkins that John Elk, an American Indian who had tried to vote in a federal election in Omaha, Nebraska, was not a US citizen entitled to the protection of the 14th and 15th Amendments of the US Constitution. Native Americans became eligible for citizenship in 1887 under the Dawes Act, but only in 1924, under the Indian Citizenship Act, were all Native Americans born in the US made citizens.

Last public execution at Tyburn Gallows in London

On November 3, 1783, the last public execution took place at Tyburn Gallows in London, when John Austin was hanged for highway robbery. From the hanging of William Fitz Osburn in 1196 until Austin's execution, Tyburn served as London's primary location for public executions.

Learn more about the trial of John Austin.