New York, Feb 26: Martha Stewart’s lawyers will wrap up their case on Wednesday without calling the domestic trend-setter as a witness to defend herself against charges she lied to cover up a suspicious stock sale, her attorneys said on Tuesday.
Stewart’s attorney Robert Morvillo said he only plans to call one or two witnesses — a former lawyer for the celebrity homemaker and possibly a memory expert. Whether Stewart would testify has been one of the lingering questions over the month-long trial in which she is charged with lying to investigators about a suspiciously timed sale of ImClone Systems stock.
Prosecutors say she sold nearly 4,000 shares of ImClone after learning from a broker’s assistant that the biotech company’s founder, Sam Waksal, was dumping his shares. The assistant, Douglas Faneuil, backed up government’s charges, telling jurors his boss ordered him on December 27, ’01 to pass Stewart the inside information.
Faneuil’s boss, Peter Bacanovic, is standing trial with Martha Stewart for conspiring to cover up the reason behind the trade. Martha Stewart and Bacanovic contend that they had a pre-existing arrangement to sell her ImClone shares if the price fell below $60 a share. Legal experts said the defence would have been taking a great risk putting the temperamental trend-setter on the stand. Bureau Report