Fox 5 Newsbreak: Securities Fraud charge against Martha Stewart dismissed

[Maddy McCall]

The most serious charge against Stewart has just been dismissed by the judge hearing the case.

No link...breaking news on Fox 5

Edited to add link: http://www.westportnow.com/archives/003268.htm

Martha Stewart Trial: Judge Drops Most Serious Charge
The federal judge overseeing the trial of Westport’s Martha Stewart today dropped one of the most serious charges against her-- securities fraud.

The action came after media organizations reported that proposed instructions to the jury that the judge shared with lawyers Thursday night still contained the charge, according to a person briefed on the draft document.

Jury deliberations will begin next week on the remaining charges against Stewart and her former stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic.

Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum had made clear she had doubts about the validity of the charge, which carried a possible 10-year prison term.

[Qanisqineq]

1. MSNBC talking about it too

[oneighty]

2. Good

180

[Maddy McCall]

3. It was a trumped up charge...

I am glad about it!

[bpilgrim]

4. now it will be safe for the big boyz to go on trial

lucky duckies

peace

[trumad]

5. The stupidest charge ever

Just cause Martha says everythings going to be OK and that she was innocent, the DA charges her with trying to influence her stock prices....

The case is falling apart for the old DA... Go Martha!

[bpilgrim]

10. they didn't have a choice...

if i was in power and caught REDHANDED swindling tens of thousands from my american workers and retired folks i would certainly do everything possible to have a 'martha' proceed my case.

clever ain't 'they'

peace

[mhr]

6. Good! Now The Prosecutors Can Go After The Real Crooks Bush And Co.

Always Remember:

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

Thomas Jefferson
Founding Father Of The United States of America

[MissB]

7. They're all talking about it

CNN and MSNBC have it listed as breaking news on their webpages, but no details yet.

[bearfan454]

8. Great ! Indict Ken Lay now !

Yes, really, it's the law awol !

[Walt Starr]

9. Wow, if the stock sale was legit, you must acquit!

And by this ruling, the stock sale was legit!

GOOD FOR MARTHA!!!

[underpants]

13. She was never charged with any to do with the actual sale, the act

she is charged with lying to the FBI and obstructing the investigation into the sale but she was never charged with the actual sale.

Basically she is charged with lying about something that she was never charged with. Oh and she only made $38,000 in profit on the sale, they don't mention that or most people would see how stupid the whole thing is.

[MaineDem]

14. The fraud charge was based on HER stock.

Not the Imclone stock sale.

[underpants]

15. Oh okay I stand corrected

There was no testimony on this as far as I could see. I thought that this was part of the original process to put the charges together and that it should have been taken out from the getgo. I see now that it was part of the original charge and that it had to do with deceiving investors in her stock.

Either way good news for her. I can't wait to hear the closing arguments by the defense, they mentioned Ashcroft and that a lot of this was due to the interference by DoJ. It should be quite good.

[KAZ]

17. The fraud charge was based on her public comments.

Her public proclamation of her innocence was seen as an attempt to deceive investors in her company. Pretty fn stupid if you ask me.

[Lorien]

11. Excellent!

whether or not she made a small gain on insider info (nothing compared to *'s gains from Harken sales) this entire waste of media time was all smoke and mirrors, intended to distract the masses from the real crimes against the American people!

[underpants]

12. HOLD ON-they just took it out of the instructions to the jury

She was never charged with securities fraud just for...uh...lying and obstructing justice in regards to the act that she....uh...was never charged with.

[bushisanidiot]

16. How Long Til Ashcrost Brings His Nazi Hammer Down On Ms. Stewart?

after he's criminalized all the women who've had legal abortions he'll start going after other women for various other "crimes", starting with Ms. Stewart.

[Cassandra]

18. They should just do what they should have done in the first place.

Assess her a triple penalty and not waste our time and money with this stupid trial. Save that money for chasing after Enron et al, who really did signifigant damage to the economy.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

19. NYTimes: Most Serious Charge Against Martha Stewart Is Thrown Out

A federal judge in New York today dismissed the most serious charge against Martha Stewart, an accusation of securities fraud, but left four other charges in place....

The fraud charge accused Ms. Stewart of deceiving investors in her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, by lying about the reasons for her sale of stock in ImClone Systems in 2001.

The charges left intact by Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum of the Federal District Court in Manhattan are conspiracy, two counts of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice.

The judge declined to throw out any of the five charges against Ms. Stewart's former stockbroker, Peter E. Bacanovic....

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/27/business/27CND-MART.html

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

20. I have sent Stewart notes of encouragement throughtout this

and always gotten a reply....I wish her the best in what is a total sham case with trumped up charges.

[On the Road]

21. Prosecutorial Overreach

gets smacked down again. Good -- one of things I hate most about our legal system is the "novel" application of laws to situations they were never intended to address.