New York, July 16--Martha Stewart was sentenced today to five months in prison and five months of home confinement, closing another chapter in the legal battle against the domestic doyenne that has its roots in a stock trade made two and a half years ago.
It was uncertain how much time of her sentence Ms. Stewart would actually serve. She also has been fined $30,000. U.S. District Court Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum noted that she had sentenced Ms. Stewart on the bottom of the confinement range of 10 to 16 months.
Ms. Stewart's co-defendant, former Merril Lynch & Co. stockbroker Peter Bacanovic, is slated to be sentenced around 2:30 p.m. EDT, also by Judge Cedarbaum
Ms. Stewart, the 62-year-old founder of Marth Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., and Mr. Bacanovic were convicted in March of obstructing a government investigation into her sale of ImClone Systems Inc. stock. They maintained that they had a pre-existing agreement to sell when the stock dropped below $60. Prosecutors argued that was a cover story for trading on inside information.
Ms. Stewart was convicted on two counts of making false statements, one of conspiracy and one of obstruction of justice. Mr. Bacanovic was convicted on one count each of making false statements, conspiracy, perjury and obstruction of justice.
In court before her sentencing, Ms. Stewart asked the judge to "remember all the good I have done."
"Today is a shameful day. It's shameful for me, for my family and for my company," she added.
Sentencing originally had been sentenced for June 17, but the date was pushed back last month to July 8 and then to July 16 to give defense lawyers time to argue for a new trial after an ink expert who testified for the government was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York on perjury charges.
In May, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office accused Larry Stewart, a laboratory director for the U.S. Secret Service, of lying when he testified that he personally carried out an ink analysis of a worksheet detailing Ms. Stewart's stock portfolio. Mr. Stewart, no relation to the convicted executive, had testified that a note of "@60" next to ImClone on a worksheet detailing her portfolio was made with different ink than was used on the rest of the sheet.
Judge Cedarbaum last week rejected Ms. Stewart's and Mr. Bacanovic's requests for a new trial, saying "there is no reasonable likelihood that this perjury could have affected the jury's verdict."
