On July 16, Martha Stewart, a victim of selective Bush justice, was sentenced to 5 years (she'll probably only serve a little over 4 months) in a minimum security facility outside Danbury Ct. Not only was Stewart's $275,000 stock sale case blown up beyond any attention Ken Lay got for over three years, it was riddled with obvious attempts by the prosecution to insure that she was hung out to dry. "I'll be back," she promised afterward, speaking in a strong voice on the courthouse steps. "I'm not afraid. Not afraid whatsoever. I'm very sorry it had to come to this." Stewart's transport to the facility has been delayed pending an appeal.

The penal system in Texas under Bush was almost Medieval in its harshness - and in its absolute failure to rehabilitate (the original objective of American justice). Parole was all but abolished, heavy time and no community service was the rule not the exception for crimes of all magnitude. The result: an increase in both crime and the number of people behind bars. Under Bush, this model of "justice" is going nationwide, with more people behind bars and less rehabilitation than ever. Now Martha Stewart, a victim of Bush justice (throw the book at liberals and let slimebags like Ken Lay walk scott free), has offered to work off her sentence helping poor women achieve financial independence - a win-win all round. If it works, it could set a constructive model for sentencing nonviolent offenders nationally, one that would ease the nation's dangerously overcrowded prisons.

AP: "A lawyer for Martha Stewart suggested today that allegations of perjury by a Secret Service employee who testified at her trial cast doubt on the credibility of other government witnesses as well. David Chesnoff, speaking on CBS's "The Early Show" said "If this jury had known that the director of the Secret Service's forensic office, the people that guard the president, was capable of lying, then what would that have said about the person who testified from the SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission] or the FBI agent?" he asked. Good question! Especially since the same SEC couldn't be bothered to even bring Ken Lay to TRIAL!

MSNBC "A Secret Service [as in close to the White House] ink expert who testified for the government at the Martha Stewart trial was charged Friday with lying repeatedly on the stand. Lawyers for a stockbroker convicted with Stewart called for a new trial.Larry Stewart, who is not related to Martha Stewart, testified that he had worked on two ink-analysis examinations of the worksheet, in August 2002 and January 2004. Prosecutors said the Secret Service informed them last week that Stewart, the laboratory director at the Secret Service, did not work on those tests.In addition, Stewart falsely testified that he was familiar with a proposal for a scientific textbook on ink analysis that had been submitted by two of his subordinates, Manhattan U.S. Attorney David Kelley said."

Chappell Hartridge was the most self-righteously outspoken person on Stewart's jury, urging other jurors to find against Stewart because it would "score one for the little guy." As it turns out that Hartridge was arrested in 1997 for assaulting a woman, and for stealing from a Little League organization. Hartridge covered this up during jury selection, but crafted his responses to increase his chances of being selected. Hartridge then solicited money from the media for his story about the trial. There are even rumors that Hartridge was planted on the jury as a provocateur to help insure a conviction. In the interests of the American justice system, this case should be thoroughly investigated. especially since another juror's actions in a corporate case (Tyco) involving millions has derailed the trial.

Kathleen Parker writes: "The very weird 'b-tch hunt' of Martha Stewart, as Rosie O'Donnell put it, summons to mind the 1997 movie, Wag the Dog. In the film, the pres. of the US is under siege for a sex scandal and invents a war in order to distract the public. In a modern world of corporate scandal in which CEOs have bilked investors for millions, our federal investigators have spent months and several fortunes pursuing someone whose crime pales by comparison. A distraction from what, exactly? Their failure to adequately pursue the really bad guys?... Neither am I inclined to celebrate a judicial 'victory' that trivializes the truly monstrous corporate crimes that have robbed people of their life savings and that thus far have gone not only unpunished in many cases, but unindicted." Meanwhile, Bush is now speaking of corporate scandals as being "behind us."

From TalkLeft: "Peter Goldberger, the appellate lawyer guru from Ardmore, PA, points out that the news is is characterizing the Judge's dismissal of the securities fraud count against Martha Stewart. He writes, Judge Cedarbaum did not 'toss' or 'dismiss' or 'throw out' the securities fraud charge against Martha Stewart, as all the news stories have been saying. She found Stewart Not Guilty on that charge, that is, she acquitted her. Peter is correct. Martha was acquitted on that count. You can read the opinion."

"Martha Stewart's business manager testified Tuesday that she reminded the homemaking mogul a month after Stewart dumped her ImClone Systems stock that her broker had wanted her to unload it at $60 or $61. Heidi DeLuca placed the conversation with Stewart on Jan. 29, 2002, six days before Stewart gave her first interview to investigators in the ImClone probe. On Monday, DeLuca testified that Bacanovic expressed a desire to get rid of the shares in a conversation weeks before Stewart sold the stock. 'He told me he felt ImClone was a dog,' she said. 'He felt he could set a floor price of $60 or $61 just in case the stock continued to fall, as a safeguard.' DeLuca's testimony supports the key element of the defense."

"Bill Cosby is the latest of Martha Stewart's celebrity friends who have come to her stock fraud trial in New York to show support. Cosby was wearing sunglasses and sat directly behind Stewart in the courtroom Monday. When reporters asked him why he was there, he replied, 'I'm here for a friend.' Earlier this month, Rosie O'Donnell attended the trial. She even jokingly offered a prosecutor a bag of M&M's as a bribe to drop the charges." Meanwhile, depending on whether you follow NBC (National Bush Corp.) or a real news outlet, the case is either going badly for Martha (NBC) or for the Bush Inquisitors (real news).

Wired News reports: "Martha Stewart's lawyers on Monday urged a federal judge to throw out key charges against their client, including a securities fraud charge that could land the lifestyle trendsetter in jail for 10 years. U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum said she would rule later on the contention by Stewart's lawyers that prosecutors had not proven that she and her stock broker conspired to cover up an insider stock tip...the judge has said the most serious charge of securities fraud is questionable... Stewart is also charged with securities fraud, in what the judge has called a novel use of the law." 'Novel' sounds like a euphemism for 'Trumped Up.' Meanwhile, Ken Lay, Dick Cheney, and the mobsters at Halliburton - all have been caught DEAD TO RIGHTS for their crimes, but they remain free as birds to continue to defraud America.

What do Martha Stewart and former Kmart merchandising executive Joseph Hofmeister have in common? 1. Hoffmeister helped manage Stewart's line of Kmart products ("guilt" by association?), 2.Both have been persecuted in a Bush SEC witch hunt. 3. Both have had completely non-credible witnesses supplying the SEC's chief testimony against them. Now the SEC has been forced to not only drop all charges against Hoffmeister, but its civil suit as well due to its outrageously weak case. "In its motion to dismiss, the government said that it could no longer ethically and in good conscience proceed with the prosecution." Now let's hope Martha also gets fair treatment by the justice system.

"Moments before Douglas Faneuil was to take the stand to testify against Martha Stewart, U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum called a halt to the court proceedings. Faneuil, the former brokerage assistant who handled the stock sale at the centre of the trial... is expected to testify he gave Stewart a secret tip from her stockbroker that led the home decorating and style maven to sell nearly 4,000 shares of ImClone Systems stock just before it plummeted on a negative report about its most important drug." But at the 11th hour prosecutors were forced to turn over evidence that casts serious doubt on Faneuil's credibility. It was evidence the defense should have been given months ago. Lead prosecutor Karen Patton Seymour whined to the judge that delaying the case would hamper the government's ability to "provide the foundation" for its case.