NEW YORK -Martha Stewart, trying to clear her tarnished name even as she serves a prison term, claims in her appeal that her trial was tainted by a barrage of unfair suggestions that she was charged with insider trading.
Lawyers for the celebrity homemaker argued in papers made public yesterday that government prosecutors, unchecked by the trial judge, confused jurors about the charges against Stewart.
Martha Stewart was never charged with insider trading
the lawyers wrote, urging a federal appeals court to overturn her conviction. But a barrage of pretrial leaks and in-court accusations left the indelible impression that she was guilty of that offense.
Stewart was charged only with deceiving investigators, not with insider trading. But the appeals brief argues that prosecutors and the trial judge kept the jury from understanding the difference.
Prosecutors told jurors that Stewart had received a secret tip about her ImClone Systems Inc. stock just before she sold in December 2001, and said the case was about cheating investors in the stock market.
The brief says prosecutors unfairly linked Stewart and ImClone founder Sam Waksal. Waksal pleaded guilty to insider trading, admitting he sold ImClone because he knew about a forthcoming negative report about the company.
The papers were filed as new details emerged about Stewart's daily life at the minimum-security federal women's prison in rural Alderson, W.Va., her home until early March.
Walter Dellinger, the lawyer leading the appeal, said on NBC's Today that Stewart is exploring innovative ways to do microwave cooking with her fellow inmates.
He also said she spends up to three hours a night writing on a typewriter. Dellinger said he did not know what she is writing, but Stewart has hinted she may write a book about her experience with federal law enforcement.
She's making the best of what's necessarily a difficult situation Dellinger said. I don't think she knew what to expect but she's certainly been very pleased about it.
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