Conrad Black could leave jail this week - for good

The jailed media tycoon Conrad Black could leave prison in the United States as early as Wednesday after a US federal appeal court granted him bail while it reconsiders his convictions in 2007 for diverting funds from the newspaper company Hollinger for his own use.

Several lawyers acquainted with his case believe that, having served 28 months of his six-and-a-half years jail sentence at the Coleman correctional facility in Florida on charges of fraud and obstruction of justice, inmate 18330-424 is unlikely to have to return to jail.

"Wow," the Chicago securities lawyer Andrew Stoltman told Canada's  Globe and Mail. "I would say he's pulled off the Hail Mary. Nobody gave him a chance, and now he's out on bail, and that's a real good sign that his conviction is going to be overturned or at least he's going to be released on time served on the obstruction of justice charge."

Criminal lawyer Steven Skurka, author of Tilted: The Trial of Conrad Black, told the National Post, the Toronto-based paper founded by Black: "This is a very good sign for Conrad Black's appeal. When you consider the morsels that are left of the government's case, I think there's an excellent prospect that when Conrad Black leaves that federal prison, he's never going to be behind bars again."

Until the bail terms are set, Black, the former owner of the Daily Telegraph, the Jerusalem Post and the Chicago Sun-Times, remains in jail. His wife, the journalist Barbara Amiel, who has been living at the couple's home in Palm Beach while her husband has been incarcerated, said in an email response to a query from the National Post: "Until I have him in my arms, I dare not say anything."

The apparent turnabout in Black's legal fortunes comes because the appeal court agreed yesterday to reconsider his convictions in the light of an important ruling last month by the US Supreme Court. America's highest court narrowed the interpretation of a key legal theory used in the trial, as a result of which it said the jury had received improper instructions on the fraud charges.

The appeal court, which until yesterday had consistently taken a tough line on all Black's requests for appeals and for bail, quickly agreed to bail because the Supreme Court's ruling had raised a substantial question of law.

The bail hearing will be in front of Judge Amy St Eve, the Chicago judge who presided over Black's 2007 trial and told him: "You have committed a serious offence, a very serious offence. You have violated your duty to Hollinger International and to your shareholders". As well as jailing him, she ordered Black to pay $6.1m to Hollinger.

The bail hearing has been scheduled for 8.45 am on Wednesday when Black's lawyer, Miguel Estrada, is expected to press for his client to be allowed to return to Canada, where he and Amiel own a palatial home in Toronto.

Although Black famously gave up his Canadian citizenship in order to take his seat in the House of Lords, he retains residency.

If Judge St Eve insists he stays in the US, he will probably join Amiel at the Palm Beach house where she has been living.

According to the Globe and Mail, however, the Blacks no longer own the mansion outright, having transferred the deeds to a Connecticut investment firm, Blackfield Holdings, in settlement of an $11.6m loan. A Blackfield spokesman has said that Black "retains an interest in the property and he has some flexibility regarding its future".

Most legal analysts interviewed in the past 24 hours believe that once the Black case is back in court, he will not have to return to jail - assuming the fraud convictions are reversed in the light of the Supreme Court ruling.

There is still the obstruction of justice conviction. The court might rule that this cannot stand if the fraud charges are dropped. And if the obstruction charge stays, they are likely to rule that the jail time already served covers it.

There is also the fact that only Black of all the defendants in the 2007 trial is still in jail. Four other Hollinger executives are either on bail pending appeal or have completed their jail terms - including Black's long-time business partner David Radler, who testified against the others and was free after serving only 10 months in the relative comfort of a Canadian jail.

Not all the lawyers involved in Black's case are thrilled by yesterday's development. "I'm surprised," said Eric Sussman, who led the prosecution against Black and his fellow defendants. "But then again, there are very few things in this case that have not surprised me."

The former Telegraph proprietor's fellow inmates at Coleman will also have mixed feelings about his departure. Apparently unfazed by his jail experience, he has been teaching some of them US history and English.

Though as one former Telegraph journalist commented yesterday: "History lessons from Conrad? I'd rather do 10 years in Sing Sing." ·