New York, NY, Dec. 9--A federal judge rejected Martha Stewart's request to disqualify a prosecutor from cross-examining the lifestyle entrepreneur at her January obstruction-of-justice and securities-fraud trial.
Lawyers for Stewart sought to prevent prosecutor Karen Patton Seymour from questioning her after the government disclosed Seymour reviewed an e-mail that Stewart sent to her lawyer and daughter detailing the December 2000 stock sale that led to her indictment.
In October, U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum in New York said Stewart didn't waive attorney-client privilege on the e-mail and it couldn't be used at trial. Stewart's lawyers filed a motion arguing that having reviewed the note, the government could use the contents when questioning her.
In an opinion issued Monday, Judge Cedarbaum wrote, "The proper remedy...is the remedy already granted here: prohibiting the opposing side from using the document at trial." She added the government shouldn't "suffer the extreme penalty of partial disqualification for an inadvertent look" at the e-mail.
Stewart and her former stockbroker have been charged with obstructing a federal investigation into her December 2000 sale of less than 4,000 shares of ImClone Systems Inc. for $228,000. Stewart has also been charged with securities fraud for allegedly making false statements with the purpose of bolstering the stock of her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. She and her broker have pleaded not guilty.
