Judge refuses Stewart request for a new trial

A FEDERAL judge yesterday 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.

District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum said there was “no reasonable likelihood that this perjury could have affected the jury’s verdict”.

The judge said “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.

Stewart and former stockbroker Peter Bacanovic were convicted on March 5 of lying to federal investigators about why Stewart sold 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems 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. Mr 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 Judge Cedarbaum rejected a new-trial request from Martha Stewart and Bacanovic. She also declined to hold a hearing that the defence sought.

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