Judge denies Stewart new trial

Erin McClam

Thursday, July 8, 2004 | 11:14 a.m.

NEW YORK -- A federal judge today denied Martha Stewart's latest request for a new trial based on allegations that a government ink expert lied on the witness stand at her first trial.

U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum said there was "no reasonable likelihood that this perjury could have affected the jury's verdict."

The judge added that "overwhelming independent evidence" supports the jury's guilty verdict.

The decision paved the way for the celebrity homemaker to be sentenced next week for lying about a 2001 stock sale. Stewart and her former stockbroker are each expected to get 10 to 16 months in prison.

A spokeswoman for Stewart did not immediately return a call for comment. There was no immediate comment from prosecutors besides an e-mail alerting reporters to the judge's decision.

Stewart and former stockbroker Peter Bacanovic were convicted March 5 of lying to federal investigators about why Stewart sold 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems Inc. stock just before it plunged on a negative government report.

They asked for a new trial after prosecutors accused Secret Service ink expert Larry Stewart of lying repeatedly on the witness stand during the trial in February.

Larry Stewart, no relation to Martha Stewart, was accused of lying when he said he participated in ink-analysis testing of a worksheet prepared by Bacanovic of stocks in Martha Stewart's portfolio.

But Bacanovic was acquitted of a charge of falsifying a document.

The decision was the second time Cedarbaum has rejected a new-trial request from Martha Stewart and Bacanovic.

In May, she rejected a new-trial motion based on defense allegations that a juror lied on his jury questionnaire in order to get on the panel.

Larry Stewart was called to testify about a notation of "@60" made by Bacanovic on the stock worksheet. Prosecutors contended the mark was added after the stock sale to support a cover story.

The defense never disputed the central point of Larry Stewart's testimony -- that the notation was made in a different ink than most other marks on the worksheet.

Shares of Martha Stewart's media company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, were down 38 cents, or more than 4 percent, at $8.50 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.