| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Sogobia" |
| Date: |
22 May 2004 10:21:44 AM |
| Object: |
We've come to expect nothing less and no better from the Bush cabal. |
Gov't Witness Charged in Stewart Case
Fri May 21, 2004
By Gail Appleson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A government witness was charged with lying to help
convict lifestyle trendsetter Martha Stewart, officials said on Friday,
raising questions of whether her conspiracy conviction could be thrown out.
Larry Stewart, a U.S. Secret Service laboratory director, was accused of
committing perjury at her trial, where he testified as an expert witness
about ink on a worksheet kept by her stockbroker, federal prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said the development would not affect the convictions of Martha
Stewart and her former broker Peter Bacanovic, but defense attorneys argued
otherwise.
The perjury charges related to testimony in February when Larry Stewart said
he was involved in examinations of the worksheet. He actually was consulted
only briefly and did not do the actual work, court documents said.
Martha Stewart, 62, who built a media empire on tips for gracious living,
was found guilty in March of lying to investigators over a suspicious stock
sale and is expected to face time in prison.
Larry Stewart, 46, of Bethesda, Maryland, who is not related to Martha
Stewart, faces two counts of perjury. He surrendered on Friday at Manhattan
federal court and later was released on bond.
"The discovery that Mr. Stewart testified falsely in no way compromises the
guilty verdicts returned against either defendant," Manhattan U.S. Attorney
David Kelley said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman
Cedarbaum.
But defense attorneys said the perjury charges, along with earlier questions
about a juror, undermine the case.
"The arrest of one of the government's key witnesses for perjury clearly
demonstrates that the trial of Martha Stewart was fatally flawed and
unfair," lawyers Robert Morvillo and John Tigue said in a statement.
They had previously sought a new trial on grounds that a juror lied on a
questionnaire used to select the panel. The judge denied that motion earlier
this month.
Richard Strassberg, Bacanovic's lawyer, added: "We believe that the perjury
of a key government witness undermines any integrity there was in the jury's
verdict and will require a new trial and we will pursue that."
Christopher Bebel, a former federal prosecutor and Securities and Exchange
Commission attorney who now works at Houston law firm Sacks, Bebel & Boll,
questioned how solid the convictions may be.
"The government's verdict is going to be erased and the parties will have to
tee it up again because this piece of evidence played too much of a central
role in the case," he said.
However, criminal defense attorney Ivan Fisher said he did not think the new
charges would lead to a new trial.
"I don't think it even comes close," he said.
He said Larry Stewart's testimony related to a count -- making a false
document -- on which Bacanovic was acquitted.
Many experts agreed that sentencing, scheduled for June 17, would likely be
delayed.
Martha Stewart's conviction for conspiracy, making false statements and
obstruction was related to her suspicious sale of stock in biotech company
ImClone Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:IMCL - news) in December 2001.
Prosecutors said she was tipped off that ImClone's founder Sam Waksal was
dumping his shares. The defense said there was a preexisting deal to sell
her shares if the price fell to $60.
The broker's worksheet listed various securities positions held by Martha
Stewart and had Bacanovic's handwritten notations, including one to sell
ImClone "at 60."
The government claimed Bacanovic added the notation to back up the claim of
a preexisting deal, and Larry Stewart testified the notation's ink was
different from other ink on the document.
Questions about the ink could provide legitimate ground to reverse some if
not all of the charges, said John Wing, a criminal defense lawyer and
partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges.
"If that guy lied about when the ink was put down or that it was different
ink, that goes right to the heart of the obstruction charge," he said.
According to the perjury charges, Larry Stewart lied when he said he
participated in examinations of the worksheet in the summer of 2002 and
January 2004. According to court papers, an employee conducted the tests and
Stewart was only consulted briefly about the later one.
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE:MSO - news) shares rose 75 cents, or
8.8 percent, to $9.30 on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock price jumped
almost 22 percent earlier in the day.
http://tinyurl.com/38ady
--
A pattern of deception
A hard truth appears to have escaped the notice of the public and received
scant attention from the media: Bush is the first president in American
history to use deceptive propaganda as his main means of communications in
selling his policies. His pattern of deception continues unabated and in
direct conflict with the notion of the public's informed consent that is
central to American democracy.
Walter Williams is professor emeritus at the University of Washington's
Evans School of Public Affairs.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/6378746.htm
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| User: "Asmodeus" |
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| Title: Re: We've come to expect nothing less and no better from the Bush cabal. |
01 Jun 2004 02:43:45 PM |
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"Sogobia" <windriver2000@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:29df960d63c08fca98d4aec782b97e4b@news.teranews.com:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A government witness was charged with lying to help
convict lifestyle trendsetter Martha Stewart
You poor liberals are really scraping the bottom of the
barrel to find something. It would be sad if it weren't
so damned funny.
--
/"\ || Free Enterprise
\ / ASCII RIBBON CAMPAIGN || Limited Government
X AGAINST HTML MAIL || Individual Freedom
/ \ AND POSTINGS || http://www.rlc.org
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| User: "Salad" |
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| Title: Re: We've come to expect nothing less and no better from the Bushcabal. |
22 May 2004 03:17:09 PM |
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Sogobia wrote:
Gov't Witness Charged in Stewart Case
Fri May 21, 2004
By Gail Appleson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A government witness was charged with lying to help
convict lifestyle trendsetter Martha Stewart, officials said on Friday,
raising questions of whether her conspiracy conviction could be thrown out.
Larry Stewart, a U.S. Secret Service laboratory director, was accused of
committing perjury at her trial, where he testified as an expert witness
about ink on a worksheet kept by her stockbroker, federal prosecutors said.
It wouldn't surprise me if bush or Rove knew and condoned this. I
wonder how much K-Mart kicked back to the bush campaign in comparison to
Walmart.
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