Witness Faneuil avoids jail

Friday, July 23, 2004 | 9:25 a.m.

NEW YORK -- Douglas Faneuil, the 28-year-old broker's assistant whose testimony helped convict Martha Stewart of obstructing justice, today was fined $2,000 after being charged with a minor bribery crime. He received no prison time.

Faneuil was the government's star witness in its case against Martha Stewart and her former Merrill Lynch & Co. broker, Peter Bacanovic. Sixteen months before taking the witness stand, Faneuil, who was Bacanovic's assistant, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors who were pursuing Stewart.

Stewart, founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., and Bacanovic were sentenced last week to five months in prison and five months home detention. U.S. District Judge Miriam Cedarbaum, who sentenced Faneuil, called him the "key witness" in the case in a ruling denying Stewart a new trial.

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