- NEW YORK (Reuters)
- Jurors in the Martha Stewart (news - web sites) trial on Thursday were
poring over charts, phone records and transcripts relating to the trendsetter's
suspicious sale of stock in a biotech company.
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- Deliberations by the eight women and four men who will
decide the fate of Stewart, 62, who oversees an empire of magazines, television
programs and home products, were delayed by a subway accident that caused
several jurors to arrive late at the federal courthouse.
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- Separately, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. , reported
a better-than-expected quarterly profit and said it has "prepared
for the various possible outcomes" of the trial. It said advertising
revenues declined as it "continued to feel the negative impact"
of its founder's legal woes.
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- Once deliberations resumed, jurors received a series
of documents and transcripts from the seven-week trial that they had requested
from the court on Wednesday.
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- Among the items was a chart detailing a series of phone
calls on Dec. 27, 2001, the day Stewart sold nearly 4,000 shares of ImClone
Systems Inc. , a biotech company founded by her friend Sam Waksal.
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- Stewart and her former Merrill Lynch broker, Peter Bacanovic,
are accused of hiding the reason behind the celebrity homemaker's suspicious
ImClone stock sale, which prosecutors say was made after she received a
"secret" tip.
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- Government lawyers say Bacanovic ordered his assistant
to tip Stewart that Waksal was dumping all his shares. The defendants say
they had a pre-existing deal to sell Stewart's shares if their price fell
to $60. Stewart made $228,000 from the sale.
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- Neither Stewart, a former model and stockbroker who founded
Martha Stewart Living, nor Bacanovic took the witness stand during the
trial.
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- Jurors have also asked for Bacanovic's interview with
the Securities and Exchange Commission (news - web sites). Investigators
recorded the interview and prosecutors used it to show the former broker
lied about his conversations with Stewart on Dec. 27.
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- 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. But even if convicted on all counts, she probably would receive a
much lighter sentence
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- Waksal is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence
for insider trading.
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- (Additional reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst)
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- Hours after beginning deliberations, the jury of eight
women and four men asked for telephone records from the day Stewart sold
nearly 4,000 shares of ImClone Systems Inc. stock.
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- A line of television trucks, dozens of photographers
and about 100 reporters cooled their heels as the jury adjourned to discuss
evidence from the seven-week trial of Stewart, 62, who oversees an empire
of trendsetting magazines, television programs, cookbooks and home products.
-
- Stewart and her former Merrill Lynch broker, Peter Bacanovic,
are accused of hiding the reason behind the celebrity homemaker's suspicious
sale of ImClone
-
- Federal prosecutors say Bacanovic ordered his assistant
to tip Stewart that ImClone's founder Sam Waksal was dumping all his shares.
The defendants say they had a pre-existing deal to sell Stewart's ImClone
shares if their price fell to $60.
-
- Waksal is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence
for insider trading.
-
- Each of the four counts against Stewart carries a possible
maximum five-year prison term. But even if convicted on all counts, she
probably would receive a much lighter sentence
-
- U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum spent more
than an hour and a half reading through each of the counts contained in
the indictment and the specific acts that led to the charges. She then
ordered the jury to begin deliberations.
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- "You are to consider the charges separately against
each defendant ... as if that defendant were being tried alone," Cedarbaum
told them. "You can find one guilty without finding the other guilty.
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- "The fact the defendants are being tried together
is not evidence of anything," she said. "You will have to decide
where the truth lies."
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- Stewart, wearing a dark olive pantsuit, sat stone-faced
as the judge then chose Juror No. 1, a middle-aged woman, to serve as foreperson.
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- Neither Stewart, a former model and stockbroker who founded
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. nor Bacanovic took the witness stand
during the trial.
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- Stewart scored a major victory last week when Cedarbaum
dismissed a count of securities fraud, the most serious charge against
her, which carried a possible 10-year prison sentence, on grounds of a
lack of evidence.
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- During the trial, prosecutors called 21 witnesses including
Douglas Faneuil, Bacanovic's former assistant, who said his boss ordered
him to tip Stewart that Waksal was dumping shares in his own company. Faneuil
said Stewart sold all her ImClone shares after hearing the news.
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- Jurors on Wednesday requested a transcript of key parts
of Faneuil's testimony, including his statements relating to telephone
conversations he had with Bacanovic on Dec. 27. In addition, they asked
for the tape recording of Bacanovic's testimony before investigators from
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about a talk he had with Stewart
on the day she sold her shares.
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- 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.
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- If convicted, her sentence would be based on guidelines
that take into consideration such things as the fact she is a first time
offender and the amount of money involved.
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- Stewart made $228,000 from the sale.
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- Bacanovic, 41, is charged with one count each of conspiracy,
making false statements, making a false document, perjury and obstruction
of agency proceedings. Each of the five counts carries a possible maximum
prison term of five years and a $250,000 fine. (Additional reporting by
Ellen Wulfhorst)
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