The Court of Appeals resoundingly denied the appeals of Conrad Black and his co-defendants. A few days before the decision, Ed Genson, Conrad Black’s co-counsel at his trial, spoke to me about the appeal and his recent success in the R. Kelly trial in Chicago.
(The crime sheet will adjourn for the summer break and will resume in the fall.)

“I want you to know that I have turned down every other interview request about R.Kelly’s trial,” Ed Genson shared with me after we spoke. Given that I had described him as a cuddly curmudgeon during the Conrad Black trial, I wasn’t surprised to be granted an exclusive interview in a case that garnered international attention. Genson was never someone to be swayed by fawning praise.

Ed Genson shared with me that he had listened with interest to every word of Conrad Black’s appeal in a Chicago courtroom. He was avidly following a case that he had invested months of his life to defending. By some accounts, the Court of Appeals had shredded the arguments of Black’s appellate counsel and a dismal outcome seemed all but certain. However, Genson wasn’t ready to throw up the white towel and surrender. He was “hoping and praying” that the jury’s four guilty verdicts for Conrad Black would be reversed.

The best trial lawyers never accept defeat easily and Ed Genson is not an exception. For over six years he captained the defence of the R&B superstar, R. Kelly, who was charged with a series of counts relating to sordid allegations of child pornography. Kelly was accused of videotaping a sexual encounter with his teenage goddaughter and the graphic nature of the tape worried Genson. Genson scoffed at the notion that his client’s celebrity status was a benefit in the case. R. Kelly wouldn’t have been indicted if he wasn’t a celebrity he stated firmly. If the prosecution didn’t indict him, it would have been perceived as catering to a celebrity.

The case was marked by a great deal of negative publicity and Genson believed that the press influenced the prosecution of his client’s case. A series of “mysterious leaks” leading to sensational front page stories didn’t help the case either. The 27-minute videotape of the questionable encounter had been provided to the police by a reporter with the Chicago Sun-Times who sought the protection of the Fifth Amendment when he was called as a witness at trial. “When did you ever hear of a reporter taking the 5th?” Genson asked me incredulously.

The defence was fairly straightforward to Genson. The two individuals on the tape were merely look-a- likes to his client and the young complainant. It was a case of double mistaken identity.

The history of the legal battle was marked by interminable delays and adjournments and Genson began to wonder if it would ever make its way to the courtroom. Genson later related to the Chicago Tribune that he “graduated from late middle-age to senior citizen” while working on the case. About one month before the trial was finally about to start, one member of his team abruptly left while another died. Genson brought his 72 year old former law partner, Sam Adam, along with his son, Sam Adam Jr., onto the team. Another worthy remnant of the Black team, Marc Martin, was co-counsel and a formidable defence team that worked “hand in glove” was finally in place.

The prosecution’s case suffered a severe setback when the complainant testified before the grand jury under oath that she wasn’t the person identified in the sex tape. As a result, the trial resulted in a set of witnesses called by the prosecution and the defence with sharply conflicting accounts. “It’s her,” some of the witnesses claimed while others, including four family members called by Genson, were equally adamant that it wasn’t the complainant in the video.

The jury never heard from the alleged victim on the tape at the trial as she refused to cooperate with the prosecutors. It left a gaping hole in their case where only a reasonable doubt was needed to be raised by the defence.

The jury was comprised of a majority of jurors under the age of thirty which Genson believed was to his client’s advantage. It was also a jury consisting of different races and sexes who were carefully chosen after completing 30 pages of a written questionnaire. While Genson disliked jury consultants, he relented in this case and retained the same consultant who worked on the successful defences of Michael Jackson and Robert Blake. The final word on selecting the twelve jurors, however, remained with Genson.

Genson told me that he had a good feeling about the way the trial progressed. The defence even turned down an opportunity for what Genson perceived as a “gimme mistrial”. The jury was mistakenly misinformed that the DVD played in court was an exact copy of the videotape at the heart of the case. Genson watched as a couple of jurors nodded approvingly during favourable parts of the testimony. He concluded that the case couldn’t be lost and winning loomed as a real possibility.

It was only a few days after Genson listened raptly to Conrad Black’s appeal that he stood alongside R. Kelly as the clerk read the jury’s verdict in his case. As the jury returned 14 successive verdicts of not guilty, Kelly held his down with tears streaming down his face as he tightly squeezed both Genson and Sam Adam’s hands. The words “Thank you, Jesus,” followed every happy verdict.

At the age of 66, Ed Genson admits to thinking about slowing down his busy trial schedule and will now take a couple of month’s vacation. He will decide his future after he returns, although as he reminded me, what else is he going to do. He agreed that it would be easier to be a trial lawyer in Canada.

Ed Genson can always turn to another passion in his life. He is a jazz musician and likes to pretend that he is Charlie Parker, his favourite musician, while he is playing. His musical tastes include Benny Goodman, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon. “I Believe I Can Fly” is not any list as one of his favourite songs. Yet R. Kelly remains a supportive fan. Genson fondly recalled a family gathering where he was performing with his star client in attendance. It a solid hunch that R. Kelly would be prepared to invite Ed Genson to join his own band as a back-up musician. Genson can ponder that for his retirement.