The Hindu Business Line : Martha Stewart trial a `shooting match'

A JURY pool of eight women and four men is set to decide the fate of Ms Martha Stewart in what is being billed as a sure "shooting match" between the lawyers representing the Government and the defence.

The final jury came out of a pool of hundreds, many of whom are openly saying that they have been exposed to the kind of pre-trial publicity that the defence and prosecution would prefer not to be the case.

It is said that this 12-person jury has in it a Reverend, a man who lost money in Enron and a woman who has said that the government should act faster in prosecuting corporate scandals.

Ms Stewart is in court for trial on securities fraud and obstruction of justice. She has been accused of working with her broker to come up with a story on why she unloaded some 4,000 shares of ImClone Systems on December 27, 2001; just before the prices nose-dived on a negative government review of an ImClone cancer drug.

The proseuction is making the case that Ms Stewart was tipped off that the ImClone founder himself, Mr Sam Waksal, was trying to unload his shares. But Ms Stewart and her broker have said that there was an agreement to unload the shares if it hit below the $ 60 level.

"This is a real shooting match in the sense that Ms Stewart absolutely rejects the prosecution's case in its entirety", Mr Gerald B Lefcourt, a criminal defence attorney, has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal. ""That is a real criminal-defence type case rather than your typical white collar defence which is often about nuances and revolves mostly around whether there is an intent. The trial will test the lawyers' courtroom skills", Mr.Lefcourt has said.

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