PAPER CHASE NEWSBURSTDigest RSS feedFull RSS feed
Serious law. Primary sources. Global perspective.


Friday, January 06, 2006

Martha Stewart conviction upheld by federal appeals court
Katerina Ossenova at 12:24 PM ET

Photo source or description
[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Friday upheld the 2004 conviction [JURIST report] of Martha Stewart [JURIST news archive] for lying to federal investigators in connection with her sale of ImClone stock. Stewart filed an appeal [JURIST report] after being sentenced to five months in prison and five months of house arrest, both of which she has completed [JURIST report]. In the Court's opinion [PDF text], per Judge Peter Hall, the court held that none of the numerous grounds upon which the appeal was filed [appellate brief, PDF] provides a basis to disturb the verdict. In reference to her claim that the use of co-defendant Peter Bacanovic's testimony statements violated the confrontation clause, the court said:
when the object of a conspiracy is to obstruct justice, mislead law enforcement officers, or commit similar offenses by making false statements to investigating officers, truthful statements made to such officers designed to lend credence to the false statements and hence advance the conspiracy are not rendered inadmissible by the Confrontation Clause. A contrary reading of the rule would result in obvious and unacceptable impediments to prosecuting cases like this one, in which the very object of the charged conspiracy is for the defendants to mislead investigators by responding falsely to the investigators' questions in a structured setting, fully aware that their responses might be used in future judicial proceedings.
Stewart and Bacanovic, her former stockbroker, were convicted for lying about why Stewart sold nearly 4,000 shares of ImClone Systems in 2001, just before a negative government report about the company came out. AP has more.



Link | |  | print | subscribe | RSS feeds | latest newscast | Facebook page

For a one-stop snapshot of the latest legal news that matters, with breaking documents, new legal videos, live law-related webcasts, commentary by expert law professors and more - all updated through the day in real time, with no ads and no registration barriers - visit JURIST's homepage and check back often...


LATEST LEGAL NEWS

 Iran court sentences ex-VP for role in post-election unrest
11:45 AM ET, November 22

 Rights group says Israel-Palestinian conflict claimed almost 9,000 lives in twenty years
10:30 AM ET, November 22

 DOJ dropping charges against Blackwater guard involved in 2007 Iraq shootings
9:40 AM ET, November 22

 click for more...

Get JURIST legal news on your intranet, website, blog or news reader!

LATEST FORUM

A Risk Worth Taking: Civilian Trials for Guantanamo Terror Suspects

L. Friedman/ V. Hansen
New England School of Law

ABOUT

Paper Chase is JURIST's real-time legal news service, powered by a team of 30 law student reporters and editors led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. As an educational service, Paper Chase is dedicated to presenting important legal news and materials rapidly, objectively and intelligibly in an accessible, ad-free format.

CONTACT

Paper Chase welcomes comments, tips and URLs from readers. E-mail us at JURIST@pitt.edu