Black trial jury told to continue deliberations

The judge presiding over Conrad Black’s criminal fraud trial ordered the jury to keep deliberating Tuesday after it said it was deadlocked in reaching a unanimous decision on the former media baron and his three codefendants.

The jury, in its ninth day of deliberations, told Judge Amy St. Eve of the U.S. District Court that it could not agree on a verdict on “one or more counts” in the complex, 42-count trial.

The jurors later told the judge that they planned to resume deliberations this morning according to their regular schedule.

Black, a member of Britain’s House of Lords, and three former associates are accused of pilfering $60 million from Hollinger International Inc., the company that ran Black’s media empire.

Black, former Hollinger Vice President Peter Atkinson, former Chief Financial Officer Jack Boultbee and company lawyer Mark Kipnis are all charged with mail and wire fraud and filing false corporate tax returns.