New York
Prosecutors this week opened their case against Martha Stewart, the style guru accused of lying to cover up her panicked sale of a plunging stock. A jury of four men and eight women was selected to decide whether Stewart would emerge from her trial as a convicted felon or as the vindicated victim of a celebrity witch hunt. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Patton Seymour said in her opening arguments that Stewart sold her stock in ImClone Systems based on inside information from her broker, and then lied to investigators and filed false documents. “She tried to mislead investors…to lift that dark cloud hanging over her reputation,” Seymour said. Stewart’s lawyer, Robert Morvillo, said prosecutors were basing their case on “speculation, surmise, and guesswork,” and were targeting Stewart only because she was famous.
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