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Topic: Martha Stewart Sentenced to Prison

LawGuild
Advocate
Advocate # 211

Advocate Rated:

posted

It was a case that began as an insider trading SEC crime, but ended only in a conviction for lying to US Attorneys and FBI investigators. A jury convicted Martha Stewart of lying to investigators looking into allegations that she received and used insider information when she and a co-defendant dumped several thousand dollars of Imclone stocks. Marthar Stewart was not convicted for insider trading. But, she was found guilty of lying to investigators. For that, she has been sentenced to serve 5-months in prison, and five months of house arrest.

Once she was convicted, any chance that Stewart had of avoiding serving time in prison was foreclosed by strict US federal sentencing guidelines, which compel a minimum prison term for persons convicted of making false statements to federal investigators. Her lawyers maintain that she did not get a fair trial, and Stewart insists that she is innocent. Thus, there was no chance that Stewart would plead guilty in return for a more lenient sentence.

Under the sentencing guidelines, defendants who plead guilty to an offense generally get less time for "acceptance of responsibility." In some cases, in addition to getting shorter sentences, defendants may be eligible for confinement under house arrest or in halfway houses, rather than prisons, or just receive probation. Martha Stewart received a combination of those punishments.

Posts: 27 | From: USA | Registered: Nov 2001 | IP: Logged

Tunde Onabanjo
Advocate
Advocate # 7

posted

Martha Stewart fell for the same reason that many ignorant but rich people fall; she believed she was intelligent enough to speak for herself in a legal matter. She is headed for prison over a matter that her lawyers could have gotten settled as a simple "misunderstanding." She believed that lying to federal investigators would not land her in prison simply because she thought she was only lying over a "personal matter." It is not for nothing that US law grants criminal suspects the right to remain silent and the right to the representation of counsel. Now, she will have plenty of time to understand how dumb she really is.

___________________
No Nonsense

Posts: 79 | Registered: Mar 2001 | IP: Logged

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