Westport’s Martha Stewart met with her probation officers today as jurors began telling what convinced them to convict her. They said the testimony of longtime friend and fellow Westporter Mariana Pasternak was devastating.
Stewart spent about an hour in a federal building in Manhattan. As she left shortly after noon, she thanked those who had supported her in her trial that ended Friday with her being convicted of lying about a stock sale.
As she was getting into the front passenger seat of a sport utility vehicle outside a lower Manhattan courthouse, she said:
“I want to thank my readers, my viewers and the Internet users. I just want to thank everyone for their support.”
The remarks were her second since being convicted.
As Stewart left the courthouse on Friday after the verdict was announced, the Daily News asked her to comment on the fairness of the trial. She replied, “The unfairness of the trial, that’s the right comment.”
Meanwhile, the NewYork Post reported that federal officers will inspect Stewart’s Westport home and ask for tax returns and personal documents as part of their pre-sentencing preparation. She will be sentenced June 17.
Also, Newsweek reported that prosecutors had offered Stewart a chance last April to plead guilty to just one of the four charges against her—making a false statement — in exchange for a probation sentence.
But a defense source told the magazine that prosecutors could not guarantee that Stewart would avoid jail time completely and Stewart refused the offer, Newsweek reported.
Stewart left her Turkey Hill Road South home in time for a morning appointment in Manhattan with probation officers. She had spent Sunday at home working on a strategy for an appeal, according to sources.
In television interviews, jurors said witnesses against Stewart were convincing, including Pasternak.
Pasternak, a Westport real estate agent and longtime friend of Stewart’s, testified that Stewart had told her she knew ImClone CEO Sam Waksal was selling his stock.
Pasternak said she remembered Stewart saying, “Isn’t it nice to have brokers who tell you those things?”
“We were like, `Wow,’” juror Dana D’Allessandro said. “That blew me away.”
Said juror Chappell Hartridge, “It took down two people with one shot.”
Pasternak later acknowledged on cross-examination that the remark may have been something she herself thought, not something Stewart said.
Why Pasternak agreed to testify against Stewart and what relationship they have now has been the source of much speculation.
Neither Stewart nor Pasternak has discussed their relationship publicly, but a friend of Pasternak’s who talked to her before the trial got underway provided some insight.
“Basically, Mariana told Martha that she (Mariana) was not going to go down for her,” the friend told WestportNow. “Martha understood that and, believe it or not, they are still friends.”
Stewart has helped pay legal costs for Pasternak as well as some debts. Pasternak lives in the Old Mill Beach area and has put her house on the market.
