- Martha Stewart's daughter has appeared on America's top
talk show to defend the domestic diva who is facing a prison sentence of
up to 20 years for a share dealing scandal.
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- Alexis Stewart, 38, broke her silence on the ordeal that
has battered her family for the past two years, culminating in the guilty
verdict against her mother last week. Appearing on CNN's Larry King Live,
she said the home making entrepreneur is "feeling like her life was
wasted" after the jury convicted her of making false statements, conspiracy
and obstruction of justice.
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- Fans of Martha Stewart argue that her conviction was
based on her fame and reputation as a ferociously brusque woman rather
than on her actions.
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- "She's too kind, ironically, forgiving and kind
and - I know people don't know that - but she was incredibly generous and
she gives too much, I think," Alexis Stewart told Mr King.
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- Her mother is largely known in Britain only for her dramatic
legal downfall, but she was and is one of the most famous women in America,
on a par with Oprah Winfrey.
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- She is appealing against the verdict, though legal experts
don't think she has much hope and predict a sentence of at least one year.
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- "I try not to focus on it," her daughter said.
"I think it would be incredibly wrong. But I'm hoping that won't happen."
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- This week, Martha Stewart quit the board of the media
empire she founded, a decision she took reluctantly.
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- Her daughter has been suggested as a possible replacement
at the helm of the business, though she downplayed this idea in the interview.
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- Martha Stewart's error was to sell shares in ImClone
Systems, a drug maker run by close friend Sam Waksal, one day ahead of
a key decision against the company.
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- Mr Waksal was found guilty of insider trading and is
serving seven years in prison. Ms Stewart's trial was based on what she
told investigators looking into what seems to have been, in her case, a
perfectly legal share trade.
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- Ms Stewart, 62, is a former model and stockbroker who
turned her skills in the domestic arts into a billion-dollar business.
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- She wowed, some say mesmerised, Wall Street along the
way, and retains a 61pc stake in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. However,
the company is so closely identified with its founder that its future is
in doubt.
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- Supporters are petitioning President Bush to save their
heroine, but according to a Forbes survey most of the public thinks she
deserves her fate. She will be sentenced on June 17.
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