Heidi Fleiss, in today's Wall St. Journal, on whether or not Martha Stewart should take the stand in her own defense in her trial. Heidi didn't take the stand, on the advice of her lawyers; she believes that her conviction on charges of money-laundering and tax evasion, and her subsequent 21 months in prison, wouldn't have happened had her lawyers allowed her to testify. From the article:

Ms. Fleiss says her lawyers told her to keep mum, a decision she regrets because jurors were left with only the portrait of her painted by prosecutors and their witnesses, including actor Charlie Sheen, who paid large sums for sex with women Ms. Fleiss procured. "They made me look like the Anti-Christ," she says now. Ms. Fleiss believes her own testimony would have put her in a more sympathetic light because "jurors would have gotten where I was coming from and maybe even liked me."

Whether or not to put a defendant on the stand is an extremely difficult decision. Having been involved in many high-stakes courtroom battles - thankfully, as an expert witness and not a defendant - my own opinion on whether or not to put the defendant on is, "It depends."

It depends on the type of person the defendant is, first of all; can the big-shot not be a jerk, like they are in their everyday interactions in many cases? Will they panic, and contradict themselves, and make the jury feel they're lying? Will their anger leak out? It's almost impossible to make a good decision: you might as well flip a coin. Sean "Puffy" Combs, Mick Jagger, Fatty Arbuckle, Errol Flynn, William Kennedy Smith, Woody Allen, and Robert Durst all took the stand and won their cases. On the other hand, O.J. Simpson, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and Robert Altman didn't testify and won.

I agree with Heidi on Martha: she's a very annoying person when confronted. This would most likely translate into the jury's dislike, and a trip to the slammer.

Heidi Fleiss is a very intelligent, insightful woman. Like Andy Warhol, who was regarded by many as brain-damaged, but as time has passed has come to be regarded as a kind of innocent genius, she sees to the heart of the problem, and tells you what she thinks in no uncertain terms. I read her recently self-published autobiography (no regular publisher wanted to be associated with her), "Pandering," with great interest, and learned a lot.

Heidi's comment, "Men didn't pay my girls $3,000 to have sex with them; they paid them so they'd go away," is one of the most penetrating observations I've ever read on male sexuality.

Girls, you might want to consider this the next time the guy indicates he'd like to watch the game instead of cuddling. There's room for both in a good relationship. There aren't many of those, though, don't we know....