A Man Of Letters

Judge Amy St. Eve spent a busy weekend, reading countless letters that attest to the character of Conrad Black. She's to sentence him today, and the man of letters will then become a man of numbers -- numbers like ten to twenty, minus time for good behavior.

Friends of Conrad Black wrote letters to the court in a bid to sway the judge. It's part of the process, in which the convicted man's friends and family compose heart-stirring prose that proclaims the general goodness of the man in the dock. When all is tallied, it is hoped that Mr. Black would be sentenced with leniency, based on the little things that never came out in open court.

He's truly a man of letters, having written a couple of biographies which demonstrate not only his writing ability but his scholarship. Not the best thing to mention, perhaps, because Ms. St. Eve could turn around and say that if he was so wise, he should have known better than to treat corporate cash accounts as his personal piggy bank.

There will be letters that describe Mr. Black as a wonderful husband and father, but everyone gets such letters and there is nothing new and fresh to pique the judge's interest. Someone needs to pen a unique bit of wordcraft and paint Mr. Black as a decent human being who once did something for someone that brought him nothing in return. An act of charity that did not involve a glitzy evening and pictures in his newspapers would help, but is there such an instance?

Ms. St. Eve is bound by sentencing guidelines that give her little leeway when the time comes to mete out justice. Defense attorneys hope that she will lean towards the lighter end of the recommended time, rather than choose the maximum allowed by law.

In the end, all the letters may have no effect, and the one thing that the judge would like to hear will not be uttered. Conrad Black could help his cause by apologizing to those he hurt, but as long as he contends that he did nothing wrong, any hope of leniency is lost amidst the piles of letters that mean next to nothing compared to a simple act of contrition.