Stewart loses fight for retrial
A judge today turned down style guru Martha Stewart’s motion for a second trial based on allegations that a juror lied about his arrest record on a pre-trial questionnaire.
The decision by New York Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum came precisely two months after the dollar billionaire and her broker Peter Bacanovic were convicted of lying about a shares sale.
Stewart claimed her right to a fair trial was compromised when juror Chappell Hartridge failed to disclose a prior arrest in a domestic dispute on his questionnaire.
Stewart’s lawyer Robert Morvillo claimed he would have struck Hartridge from the jury had he known the information during the jury selection process.
“Defendants have failed to demonstrate that Hartridge’s purported nondisclosures justify vacating their convictions and granting a new trial,” Cedarbaum wrote.
The judge also rejected arguments by Stewart that public comments made after the trial by Hartridge, who was by far the most outspoken juror on the panel, showed a bias against her.
On the day of the conviction, Hartridge said he thought the verdict might be “a victory for the little guy” – even though the verdict did not concern wrongdoing against shareholders.
“That Hartridge spoke of the verdict’s broader message does not reveal an agenda to punish the wealthy and powerful. He was very likely responding to questions that invited him to speculate about the impact of the verdict,” Cedarbaum wrote.
Stewart and Bacanovic are scheduled to be sentenced on June 17. Legal experts expect them to receive 10 to 16 months in prison, although Cedarbaum could allow them to serve half the time in home confinement.
