Stewart sentenced to 5 months prison
 

That's it?!

It's sickening how celebrities get treated in this country.

If it was anyone else, it would be much much longer..

[edit]
On top of that, it's gonna be a nice comfy cell away from the other inmates, and she will have all kinds of luxuries that others wouldn't get.

What do you mean, that's it? That's huge considering the amount of money she *saved*..

the link:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...martha_stewart

What good does it do to send her to prison?

Punishment? Sure... fine...

Having her do community service would better serve as punishment. She's a smart business woman, have her teach others what she knows.

I have a friend who works for her company -- and they're more than a tad nervous about whather going to jail is going to do their jobs... It's more than just her involved.

the funniest part to me....and the irony of it all...is that she sold the stock when it hit $60 per share..

yeah, the stock is currently trading at $80/share :lol: not a very shrewd business decision on her part indeed heheheh.

Very true. Prison isn't a fitting punishment for this, but still, it's what's handed out to those who follow through with insider trading.

I'm just pointing out that she's getting a slap on the wrist compared to what you or I would get!

It is an incredibly short sentence. You would go to jail longer for copying a VHS or DVD illegally, or stealing cable. But no, if Martha Stewart does it, it is too cute and precious to punish for a long time.

Apples and oranges.

Copying a VHS or a DVD is STEALING

She didn't steal.

She lied, while ethically, it's wrong, people lie everyday. Had she not been Martha Stewart, I seriously doubt anyone would have even paid attention

that's right. people are confusing the crime she's serving time for.. it's not about the insider trading... it's about LYING.

I don't think we can sanction lying to the FBI.

Underneath it all is the position (not dissimilar to the actual reason Bill Clinton was impeached) that lying to a branch of law enforcement is a very serious matter.

ahhhhhhhh, I didn't know that!

Although, it begs the age old question: how is she guilty of lying about something which she wasn't guilty of? (or I should say, "found not guilty of") :crazy:

Kinda contradictory, doncha think?

It's like how OJ was found NOT GUILTY of the murders, yet their families could sue him for $$.

OJ was found NOT GUILTY by criminal courts... but civil court is a different matter.

the DA dropped the insider trading charges against Mrs. Stewart because they felt they did not have a strong enough case for a conviction. Even the smallest reasonable doubt is enough to dissuade any DA.

As well, OJ was found guilty in Civil Court after new evidence was found after the initial trial was over.

What a crock of shit, and a waste of time.

This was supposed to be the American government showing they were serious about cracking down hard on blue collared crime. Instead, they can't even dig up enough evidence to prosecute her on the more serious charge of insider trading, so they double-back, and get her with lying. [edit:] That would be sort of like their consolation prize for not qualifying for a medal.

Martha Stewart walks away with a slap on the wrist for lying about something where she did nothing wrong, and her business is crumbling at the foundations. That'll be great when it finally caves in, and all those people end up in the unemployment line. Then the government can say they did it for the little guy.

Maybe they can still redeme themselves with Kenny boy.

completely agree. martha stewart was targeted because people love to hate her. (the reason they love to hate her are debateable but i vote for people's fear of a powerful woman.) the governments case was weak and very few americans even understand what the issue was. this trial was a publicity stunt, nothing more.

Let's look at the nature of Martha's lies:

Link


Marth did lie. Consider, however, the impact of how she has been treated. The Fed's were investigating management fraud in ImClone that cost shareholders hundreds of millions of dollars. With the way Martha was handled by the FBI, additional losses of hundreds of millions of dollars were incurred by MSO shareholders. Yes, lying to the government is wrong. But in their zeal to make Martha into an example, the Feds caused more harm than that done by her original lie. If she were not such a high profile individual, she would have received a fine at most.

well I really dont think its that big of a deal... I dont think that she deserves jail time for it. I am not that well informed on what she actually did, but I doubt it really hurt anyone, she doesnt seem like the malicious type. It seems to me like they are just trying to make an example out of someone... anyone...

Either way, whether she deserves jail or not, if it was you or I in that position, we'd be getting MUCH stiffer sentences.

Celebrities get off too easily.

Look at Scott Weiland and his heroin shit. If any of us even got busted with MARIJUANA, we'd be fucked... let alone goddamn cocaine and heroin!!

In this instance, and perhaps only in this instance, if she were not a celebrity, I seriously doubt she would have even been investigated.

"Having her do community service would better serve as punishment. She's a smart business woman, have her teach others what she knows."...maleficent
I agree, prison is not the way to go here. SOCIETY would be much better served if Martha was ordered to teach others her skills, she is very intelligent and very talented. I believe that they have made Martha a tool for an overzealous prosecutor. I think that too many of us want to extract revenge on Martha for simply being wealthy. I mean c'mon IF you were in the same situation as her and you were able to save a couple of hundred grand wouldn't you? You only need to be honest with yourself, I know I would have done exactly what she did.

oh my goodness wonderwench and i AGREE -- my lesson of the day has been learned :).

I believe that there should be no laws against insider tradeing. To me, it's just shrewd business.

Nonetheless, even with insider trading laws in the US, I don't believe that Martha did anything wrong. 5 months in prison is too much, considering all that she's had to go through already.

Someone should find a way to extradict her to Arizona and put her under Joe Arpaio's jurisdiction. Many opinions on both sides would change, right before her lawyers changed a few things too.

It's all a ploy to distract the public from the Enron execs... Nail a "little big fish" so that we can let the big boys go without the public attention.

Of course, I'm not up to date on either cases, so I'm really just shooting shit against the wind.

Martha is a big time designer, give her 40 hours a week of community service with some organization like Habitat for Humanity. I'm sure the people who get the houses would appreciate the professional decoration.

The rule of thumb is 90% sure of guilt is suitable to prosecute in criminal trials, 50% is for civil settlements.

Okay, I think I might have been wrong about the "business crumbling at the foundations" bit. I just heard the stock for her company went up another $3.00

Still doesn't change the fact the government scewed up big time, and isn't willing to admit it.

I would love to see how she spends her time in prison. I'd be willing to cut her sentence short by a month if cameras were allowed to follow her for the other 4 months. Just think of how creative she could get creating a shank or "hooch juice".

you would think that the sec would bust her balls hard core. They normally do not fock around. I used to work at a brokerage firm and know they take the chit she did seriously. I hate Martha's crusty azz, they should have made a better example of her

why do you hate her? did you hate her a year ago? I find it somewhat dubious that you could come to hate someone that you don't even know based on the tabloid heavy "news" that has been broadcast on this subject.

i'm also a little concerned about what you think she was convicted of -- it's not insider trading, they couldn't get her on that.

Bullshit. Most minor drug possession charges are slaps on the wrist. I've known plenty of people who were caught with small amounts of drugs and all they got was a fine and probation. That isn't my definition of being "fucked". You get "fucked" when they catch you with enough drugs that they can say you had intent to sell, or if you are a repeat offender many times over.

she gets 5 months in
5 months out with a bracelet
2 years supervised release (she has to report to a probie)

she should have gotten worse on this alone (excerpts of a letter she wrote to da judge courtesy of wesport now)

this is nauseating - using someone elses tragedy in her plea...

"perception"??? indeed...

this letter is nothing but "me me me - poor poor pitiful me"

this pathetic gasbag couldn't turn over a good compost pile let alone a new leaf - humility is not in her vocabulary - contrite,to her, is brand of brass polish - and yet, as she addresses the throngs in front of the courthouse, her statement turns into a fucking commercial...

article found in "Courts Illustrated"

i hope her new "sisters" show her how to properly handle a broom

if being as jerk and feeling like a victim were illegal our jails would be even more crowded then they already are.

your own statements here don't sound like you're much of the humanitarian either.

humanitarian has nothing to do with it...

she's self-serving, remorseless, doesn't see her actions as wrong, she treats people with servility, then goes on to promote her own agenda as being more important than the truth

riches gotten by service, though it be of the best rise, yet when they are gotten by flattery, feeding humors, and other servile conditions, they may be placed amongst the worst.

sir francis bacon

still not illegal. in fact i would call most of those traits human nature. most people see thier actions as defendable and those that disagree with them as wrong or not able to see things from their side.

i'm not knocking that, brianna, it's her attitude, it's the way she presents herself as being higher than the law - she scoffs at the mere idea that she what she did is serious in the eyes of the courts - she has no concept, in my opinion, of anything, outside of what is good for her...

i, being the judge, would have punished her more just for failing to see that and treating the court with the arrogance she displayed

It is true that a refusal to apologize or even actually admit wrongdoing does have a significance in the sentencing phase. And realistically, one's demeanor and attitude in the court room can affect a jury's perception.

generally i agree but i think most people fail to understand insider trading laws -- they run counter to most people's instincts (ie if someone in the company tells you things are looking bad you CANNOT sell your stock) and breaking such laws is *so* rampant that when someone is caught it does tend to feel like the're being singled out for something everyone else is doing as well. I'm not saying that such laws should not exist, but it would be tough to be singled out for a crime that it seems everyone is committing. I once was pulled over for doing 72 in a 65 and though i ended up getting out of the ticket I would have felt damn pissed if i had been ticketed -- not because I didn't break the law, but because the law hardly seems enforceable when so many people are breaking it.

So, how do you feel about the federal government charging Al Capone with income tax evasion?

If you're playing in the stock market at all, you should be well aware of insider trading laws. Warnings are sent out in my company all the time so it's a little hard to plead ignorance of it, especially if you run the company! She knew the law and she chose to break it (had she, actually, commited the crime, of course).

Many laws can't be enforced onto everybody because of a lack of governmental resources but that doesn't make the laws any less respectable. Speeding is a good example, as is child pornography. If you're going to be pissed off that you got a ticket while so many others didn't then you might as well be pissed off that so many people other than you are rich (assuming you're not, of course)...

$ = Freedom (or lesser sentence)

Unfortunatly nearly anythign can be bought now days..

yes i'm not saying that she was ignorant of the law, i'm saying that most americans (those who vilifying her) are not well aware of how the laws work.

i'm not arguing that she didn't commit a crime not am i arguing that such crimes should go unpunished, i'm just saying that i am not outraged or offended by her lack remorse. I completely identify with it and i question how we can vilify one individual for committing a crime that is so common amongst her peers.

If something is wrong, but is common, does that make it any less wrong?

Right and wrong are determined by society at large, so in answer to your question, yes, it would.

all things being relative... yes.

though, again, i'm not arguing that she was not wrong, i'm arguing that i'm not angry at her for not feeling bad. actions to not feel wrong when they are commonplace amongst one's peers.

she's a very successful woman. i believe our society can't handle that. she has made her success on stereotypical female traits ~ celebrating femininity. again screwing a woman for being female.

i'll be interested to see what happens to kenneth lay.

hahaha, I think it's hilarious when people say "society can't handle powerful women".

What year is this?

In any case, she broke the law. Wealthy successful woman aside, if you break the law, you get a punishment.

In this case... her punishment is a mere slap on the wrist compared to what normal people would get (if you don't believe me, just try some insider trading scheme and see what happens). She had stock in her OWN company, knew that the FDA was gonna deny the drug that was coming out, and then sold stock. How is that not illegal?

Whether you agree with the law or not is irrelevant in the eyes of the court. Their job is to uphold the law.

She got off easy, which pretty much proves that society has no problem with a wealthy woman. If society was pissed at a wealthy woman, she'd probably be in prison for life.

No one mentions the fact that she has stabbed many people in the back, stepped on many toes, and made many people's lives a living hell to get where she is!

Of course Kenneth Lay will get a hefty sentence. His involvement in Enron, which was a MUCH bigger scheme than Martha Stewart's ordeal. What else would you think will happen to him? What does Ken Lay have to do w/ anything?

Two people broke the law, one happened to sell stock in her own company upon acquiring knowledge that would make shareholders sell, the other screwed millions upon millions from people all over the country, not to mention completely fabricated the CA energy crisis.

I bet that's going to be the best decorated prison ina merica