Yesterday bookofjoe had an interesting post about whether or not Martha Stewart should take the stand in her securities fraud trial. After a blunder by the prosecution today, it may be a moot point:
- A federal judge criticized prosecutors in the Martha Stewart trial for waiting too long to give defense attorneys a copy of an FBI report that could damage the government's case.
Answering defense complaints, U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum on Thursday postponed the testimony of Douglas Faneuil, the government's star witness, for a week - interrupting the prosecution at a key point in the case.
....Faneuil was ready to testify Thursday that he gave Stewart a secret tip from her stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, that led her to sell nearly 4,000 shares of ImClone Systems stock in 2001, just before it plummeted on bad news.
But late Wednesday, prosecutors faxed to defense lawyers a document that raises doubts about whether the stockbroker ordered that the tip be passed on - and whether Faneuil himself recalls the episode clearly.
The document was an FBI report on an interview that Jeremiah Gutman, Faneuil's former attorney, gave to federal authorities in January 2003.
An FBI account of the interview says Gutman told investigators that Faneuil had said "he had been instructed by Bacanovic or Waksal to pass information on to Martha Stewart about ImClone," according to a person who has seen the FBI account and discussed it with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
....Yet the judge refused to give Bacanovic's attorney the remedy he wanted - a mistrial or a dismissal of all charges against the ex-broker.
But the delay in Faneuil's testimony was a boon to the defense, forcing the government to scramble its schedule of witnesses and running the risk of confusing jurors, one legal expert said.
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Article comments
1 - debbie
It all comes down to who puts on the best 'dog and pony' show.
I can just hear the news reports now...
'And now for the news under the 'Big Top', in the center ring tonight is the Stewart case, on the left side we have the 'Bryant' case and over on the right side we have the 'Peterson' case.
2 - Eric Olsen
D, how could you leave off Michael "Jesus Juice" Jackson?
3 - debbie
You are of course, right!!!! I don't know what I was thinking.