- NEW YORK (Reuters)
- Martha Stewart (news - web sites)'s defense attorney argued her innocence
to a federal jury on Tuesday and said the celebrity homemaker was simply
too smart to have made an illegal stock trade and then botched the cover-up.
- Indeed, Stewart's attorney Robert Morvillo told the jury
after three hours of closing arguments that it was now time to let the
trendsetter go back to what she does best: "I ask you to acquit Martha
Stewart and allow her to return to improving the quality of life for all
of us."
The jury in U.S. District Court is expected to start deliberations on Wednesday
whether Stewart -- who oversees an empire of trendsetting magazines, books,
television projects and home products -- and her former stock broker lied
about her December 2001 sale of ImClone Systems Inc. stock.
Stewart is accused of staging a stock-tip cover-up with the former Merrill
Lynch & Co. broker Peter Bacanovic. They maintain they had a pre-existing
agreement to sell Stewart's shares if ImClone fell to $60.
But if the pair were guilty, the defense lawyer argued, they would have
done a better job.
"We know they are smart people," he said in a dramatic, folksy
style that evoked frequent laughs in the packed courtroom. "If those
two people want to sit down and rig a story, wouldn't they make that story
consistent, at least on the major points?"
For example, Stewart told authorities she recalled setting the $60 agreement
in October, November or December 2001, while Bacanovic recalled setting
the so-called floor on Dec. 20 or 21, the attorney said.
"What you have here is the two conspirators forgetting to tell each
other crucial elements of the conspiracy," Morvillo said. "What
kind of conspiracy is this?"
Given the "serious, major, gaping, huge holes" in their stories,
he said, "they weren't on the same page. They weren't even in the
same book."
Wearing a taupe pantsuit, Stewart listened intently, looking at her lawyer,
the jury and her computer screen when evidence was put on exhibit.
Famous for building a catering company into a fortune based on home-decorating
advice, recipes and entertainment tips, the 62-year-old Stewart faces one
count of conspiracy, two counts of making false statements and one count
of obstruction of agency proceedings.
Each count carries a possible prison term of five years and a $250,000
fine. Neither Stewart, founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, or Bacanovic
took the witness stand during the evidence portion of the trial.
Defense attorneys took jabs at the testimony of the government's star witness,
Bacanovic's former assistant Douglas Faneuil.
Prosecutors say Bacanovic, 41, ordered Faneuil to tip off Stewart that
ImClone's founder, Sam Waksal, was dumping his shares. Stewart then sold
all of her stock in the biotech company, they say. ImClone shares fell
steeply the next day after regulators gave a "thumbs down" to
its cancer drug.
Faneuil testified his boss ordered him to tip off Stewart.
Morvillo questioned Faneuil's recollection of a conversation he said he
had with Stewart 25 months earlier.
"Nobody has a recollection that good," he said, challenging jurors
to recall conversations they had that long ago.
"See how detailed your recollection can be," he said. "Tell
me through your verdict."
-
- Earlier, Bacanovic's attorney Richard Strassberg tried
to shift blame onto Faneuil, whom he said was lying to win a favorable
plea deal. Faneuil has pleaded guilty to a related misdemeanor charge and
awaits sentencing.
-
- Prosecutors were set to give a rebuttal closing argument
on Tuesday afternoon.
-
- U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum dismissed
the most serious count of securities fraud, which carried a possible 10-year
prison sentence, against Stewart last week on grounds of a lack of evidence.
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