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Non-Tech : Martha Stewart -- Scourge or Scapegoat
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To: EL KABONG!!! who wrote (87)3/5/2004 8:22:02 PM
From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell  Read Replies (1) of 165
 
There was live, almost continuous coverage on the local New York talk radio stations of the verdict so I got to hear some of it while driving around today. In one segment they carried an interview with one of the jurors who said this was a victory for the little people who lose their 401K plans because of the actions of the privileged few. He said the jury made an effort to not treat Martha any differently than any other person. Meanwhile, here we have the defense allowing all these celebrities to sit in the front row and then in closing arguments essentially say, hey, do you really want to send an icon like Martha Stewart to jail simply for telling a lie. Then they had the gall to just have one witness in their defense and keep Martha off the stand, as if to say these charges are so ridiculous they aren't worth taking seriously. Obviously this strategy backfired. I can see the jurors' point.

So now we have all sorts of penny stock manipulators with millions in their pockets who get off with just a slap on the wrist, while Martha Stewart gets jail time for a (relatively) small trade. Given the obvious lies she told (e.g. describing in detail a conversation she had that turned out to be totally fabricated), you can't blame the jury for finding her guilty. I just wish the poster child for white-collar stock manipulation had done something much more egregious.

- Jeff
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