Volume II. No. 58
 07-17-04
 Five Months
 { Martha Stewart Sentenced To Prison }
 author: Vance Cureton
 © Copyright 2004
 

 Well, the Martha Stewart spectacle is almost over. After all that "noise"
 and tens of thousands of government dollars spent prosecuting Stewart 
 for lying about a crime. { the main charge of insider trading was ultimately 
 dismissed } She has been sentenced to a whopping five months in a cozy
 federal prison camp. To be followed by five months home detention and 
 two years of supervised probation.

 Oh sure, Martha is guilty as heck. And so is that Peter Bacanovic guy. 
 Martha Stewart is a most arrogant woman. Note her assertion on the day 
 of her sentencing that a "small personal matter became an almost circus
 event." 

 Hmmm, Martha. Maybe. Maybe not.

 Rumors abound that away from the public eye she is petty, cheap, vindictive, 
 and short-tempered with those unfortunate enough to work in her employ. 
 And yet, these same qualities in a successful man are lauded and praised. 
 What male who rises to the top of his profession isn't aggressive and pushy? 
 It goes with the territory. 

 Successful men are allowed to be obnoxious and demanding. If you're born
 of the kindler, gentler sex. Society is much less accepting.

 Martha got the weight of the prosecutors office dropped upon her because
 she is an enormously successful businesswoman operating  in a man's world. 
 -- And thus she was a prime target. The perfect trophy defendant in this era 
 when so many white collar criminals are taken to the woodshed. What U.S. 
 prosecutor wouldn't want to "get Martha." 

 They got her alright for all of five months.

 So what now? Martha Stewart will appeal. But her appeal will ultimately fail. 
 Afterall she is guilty. Not of insider trading. But of lying about insider trading. 

 Martha is going to jail. No question.

 But, after she endures her five months at "camp." And she's back at her
 residence lounging about on silk sheets, snacking on delicious chocolate 
 bon-bons as she serves out her home detention. Will Ken Lay's trial be 
 moving along successfully? Will this well-connected republican who 
 resided over the biggest collapse of a publically traded corporation in 
 history, get what is coming to him?

 Will his personal freedom be threatened? Will he spend hours in anquish
 worrying about what is going to happen to him in jail? Afterall, if the Feds 
 can squander endless resources to get Martha for a personal crime, there's 
 no excuse for failing to get Ken Lay. 

 The Enron collapse was far from personal. There's no excuse this guy isn't
 convicted already.

 So, why wasn't Martha offered a reasonable plea bargain? Surely both sides 
 were aware of the advantages of not having her case come to trail. If there was
 a conviction. -- And there was. The resulting sentence would be inconsequential
 given the amount of government resources that were employed in acquiring
 the conviction in the first place.

 Which is exactly what happened. -- And which is why so many of these type
 of cases don't actually make it into federal court.

 And as for Martha's point of view. Her decision to go to trial was a distrastrous 
 one. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. lost millions of dollars of value. 
 Thus, because of the intransigence of the U.S Attorney's office we've had this 
 collosal waste of time and expense prosecuting an offense that could have been 
 handled out of court. 

 Ahhh, but Martha Stewart is a somebody instead of a nobody. Too big to resist.

 Celebrity isn't all grand. Is it?
 

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