Martha Stewart sentenced to 5 months in prison

[MarineCorps]

NEW YORK - Martha Stewart was sentenced Friday to five months in prison and five months of home confinement for lying about a stock sale.

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The homemaking celebrity also received two years probation from U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum.

Stewart, dressed simply in a black pantsuit, showed no emotion as she strode briskly through a media horde when she arrived at the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan. Supporters applauded and one shouted, “Hold your head high, Martha!”

Legal experts had predicted would sentence Stewart to 10 to 16 months in prison for lying about a stock sale.

In the final weeks before Stewart’s sentencing, hundreds of well-wishers sent letters to the judge asking for mercy.

“I am alone now with my pets,” a woman named Ruth Ritter wrote to the judge in careful script. “Just seeing Martha doing her crafts, cooking, gardening, was a great comfort to me.”

From Springfield, Ohio, four middle-school cooks and a custodian wrote: “Martha Stewart has been an inspiration for women across the nation. ... A hardworking, delightful character that shares her creative ideas with everyday people like us.”

Former Merrill Lynch & Co. stockbroker Peter Bacanovic, who was convicted along with Stewart of lying about the 2001 stock sale, was scheduled to be sentenced later Friday.

It was Dec. 27, 2001, when Stewart, in a brief phone call from a Texas tarmac on her way to a Mexican vacation, sold 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems Inc., a company run by her longtime friend Sam Waksal.

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[Little Raven]

Ah well, no shadenfraude for me today.

 

[Ben E Gas]

Ah well, no shadenfraude for me today.

ZA?.............

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Poor Martha, 5 months in a minimum security facility, and then 5 months confined to one of her palaces. My heart bleeds for her If it was me instead, Id probably get 5 YEARS and within 3 months of being locked up Id have a boyfriend and would be riddled with AIDS or god knows what!

 

[Flak]

Well, one good thing, she'll soon have a girlfriend that'll be a real sweetheart I'm sure. She's a bit on the old side, but there still a lot of novelty value. How much do you think she'll go for? I'm thinking two, maybe three, cigarette packs?

 

[MarineCorps]

Poor Martha, 5 months in a minimum security facility, and then 5 months confined to one of her palaces. My heart bleeds for her

After the 5 months in prison and 5 months at home she has two years of suprivised release. Plus a tiny fine of $30,000 I'm currently watching the news about this on the tv.

 

[Little Raven]

You get what you pay for.

That applies to our justice system as much as everything else.

And Martha can pay very well.

 

[Stapel]

Trading stocks of your own company/ company you are strongly related to, is a nasty business.

America has a wonderful type of economy, with lots of liberties. In order to make this system work properly, trading with 'pre-knowledge' should be punished pretty hard!

No matter whether the person in question is a good or bad person in general. Trading with pre-knowledge is posion to a free economy!

 

[IglooDame]

Trading stocks of your own company/ company you are strongly related to, is a nasty business.

America has a wonderful type of economy, with lots of liberties. In order to make this system work properly, trading with 'pre-knowledge' should be punished pretty hard!

No matter whether the person in question is a good or bad person in general. Trading with pre-knowledge is posion to a free economy!

So are you saying that I should not buy all the stocks that I hear about via those wonderful emails that people send to me that tell me about how the company's stock is about to go through the roof based on some wonderful new discovery?

 

[Plotinus]

It's the top story on Sky right now, even though no-one in this country knows who she is. A bit like OJ Simpson - totally obscure outside America until there's a scandal, and then we're expected to be interested because the person is famous in America. It seems a bit odd to me.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Well, one good thing, she'll soon have a girlfriend that'll be a real sweetheart I'm sure. She's a bit on the old side, but there still a lot of novelty value. How much do you think she'll go for? I'm thinking two, maybe three, cigarette packs?

Actually I think she could pay people not to rape her. If I was a big fat ugly lesbian in the same jail as her, Id introduce myself and ask her how much she's willing to deposit in my bank account in order to avoid any
'unpleasantness'

Marine, she probably made $30,000 in the time it took me to type out this reply.

 

[thestonesfan]

And the witch hunt is over.

Considering what she was actually found guilty of, this seems pretty harsh.

 

[Ben E Gas]

And the witch hunt is over.

Considering what she was actually found guilty of, this seems pretty harsh.

I disagree, If it was someone not so famous, they'd get worse treatment.
Just my opinion.

 

[Immortal]

How many months has she already served in confinment? she might actually have credit for time already served.

 

[amadeus]

I've been in D.C. for five days, so meh.

In all honesty, I wasn't there, I don't know much about the case, so I really don't want to say bad things about Martha Stewart.

 

[CenturionV]

There would be no discussion on this if there was a biblical restitution system in place, we would not need to worry about martha in prison, because there would be no prison. Only jails to hold people on death row, and penal colonies for repeat petty crime offenders (like people who won't stop stealing regardless of the amount we make them pay)

Prison is cruel and inhumane, people have a right to be free to breath the fresh air, run in the sun, etc. Either that or a speedy exocution, when its that kind of crime. And then we never need pay for prisons/prison guards. (cept maybe at the penal colonies)