MSNBC: perjury charges vs. Secret Service witness in M. Stewart case

[Lori Price CLG]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5031557/

A new wrinkle in the Martha Stewart case --Government official may be charged with perjury

BREAKING NEWS
NBC, MSNBC and news services
Updated: 1:13 p.m. ET May 21, 2004NEW YORK - NBC News has learned that a perjury charge is expected to be filed against a U.S. Secret Service employee involved in the Martha Stewart stock-manipulation case.

U.S. Attorney David Kelley is expected to unveil the charge at a press conference at 2 p.m. ET, NBC News correspondent Pete Williams reported.

<snip>

[Emboldened Chimp]

1. Sounds like grounds for a mistrial

[Lori Price CLG]

2. GOPig Janklow was released after serving 100 days for manslaughter...

but, since Stewart is a Democrat, it's a whole new ballgame.
-Lori Price

[David Dunham]

3. Did they really announce this?

[Lori Price CLG]

4. Yes, they announced it on MSNBC... press conference, 2PM EST.

The Secret Service was involved in the analysis of the alleged ink (color) alterations (?!?) on a document(s).
Good to see our tax dollars at work, fighting 'crime.'
-Lori

[TahitiNut]

13. Yes, it appears that the perjured testimony was MATERIAL ...

... to the case. The Secret Service testimony was designed to contradict the defense position that the stock sale price was predetermined and not triggered by insider events. This amounts to the Government fabricating a case based on lies.

[bear425]

5. This is great news

Imo. I have long felt that Martha has been used as a scapegoat. Where's the justice when she is convicted and so many at Enron are free. Oh right, they're repukes and Martha is a Dem. :puke:

[qanda]

6. Is this Martha's 'get out of jail free' card?

If so, I would be so happy for her. I feel like she was completely railroaded.

[robbedvoter]

7. Secret service needed to nail Martha? And kenny is free and untouched

[tom_paine]

8. Exactly. In the Empire, the SS acts as personal Imperial Striking Force

Answerable, like the rest of the Imperial Family and it's odious criminal Stooges, to no one and to NO LAW.

[diatribe]

9. The funniest part of the whole Stewart case.....

is that she should have kept the stocks. A year after the non-approval from the FDA for the "drug" it was approved. She'd have made a ton of money by holding onto the stock.

[Blue_Roses]

10. I hope she gets

off on this 'cause it's clearly not fair. Compared to what Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling did, her crime is nothing. They are just trying to make an example of a Democrat with money. It's been THREE YEARS and Ken Lay is still free. What's wrong with this picture...it's not rocket science.

[President Jesus]

11. Martha Stewart's campaign donations, 1993-2004

http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=CT&last=Stewart&first=Martha

[Lori Price CLG]

12. MSNBC: Larry Stewart, director of SS forensic lab who perjured himself

...regarding his testimony about the inks on a document in the Martha Stewart trial.
-Lori

[Lou_C]

14. I hope that it's a mistrial

I use to hate Martha but I started liking her years ago when I heard that she gave to democratic causes.

I will miss her show.

[wabeewoman]

15. Information

to share with your pro-patriotic act friends(if you are unfortunate enough to have any). I just don't understand how all the people who were so anti FBI during the Waco and Ruby Ridge fiasco's could support more power to the police ( I know this is secret service but its the same issues). Time after time you see more abuse with more power. The FBI could have seized the computer that had the 9-11 planning on it under laws at the time-they just might not have been able to use the evidence. But they could have prevented 9-11. Instead that is the excuse for a police state.

[maddezmom]

16. Stewart Stock Up 20 Pct on Legal Advisory- CNNI reported now

Stewart Stock Up 20 Pct on Legal Advisory


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of Martha Stewart (news - web sites) Living Omnimedia Inc. (NYSE:MSO - news) rose as high as 20 percent on Friday, following a report that a perjury charge is expected to be filed against a U.S. Secret Service employee involved in the Martha Stewart stock-manipulation case.


The U.S. Attorney's Office said that they were planning a press conference "to announce the filing of charges against a government official for having committed perjury in a major prosecution."


The U.S. Attorney's office declined to comment on what the matter was in reference to. The company was not immediately available to comment.


NBC News reported that matter was linked to the Martha Stewart case.
~snip~
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=568&ncid=749&e=2&u=/nm/20040521/bs_nm/media_marthastewart_dc

[BabsSong]

17. Dare I say the Bush Administration's involvement in this needs to

be investigated. I'll guarantee you they are involved here. It was their "showcase" of getting tough on corporate crime and getting a big Dem donor at the same time. Just like they are setting up these GI Joes to take the fall for all the dirt on the hands of the big boys all up and down the line. This is why it is important that this regime be given no more powers. Are you starting to get the picutre, America?? (doubt it----you know the "you have nothing to worry about if you are not guilty" defense of the Patriot Act, for example. Tell that now to Martha and to all those people abused in Iraqi prisons).

[displacedtexan]

18. The press conf. just now was weird!

Yes, Larry (no relation) Stewart lied, but Martha is still guilty??????

This stinks! Her lawyers are really earning their fees! This has got to negate the stupid verdict.

Guilty of being a rich, female Democrat!

[DS1]

19. Oh look!!!

[mike1963]

20. I musta taken too many stupid pills this morning, I don't get it...

??

[barbaraann]

21. Friday pm bad news dump.

Very predictable.

[Lori Price CLG]

22. DSI, I give you the nod on an incredible post!!

Wow, you're right!!!
:)-Lori

[Selwynn]

29. Very clever, very right! - nice catch

[TahitiNut]

23. Irony on top of irony ...

... even with these new indictments, there is nothing to show that Martha committed any crime at all took place outside the boundaries of this investigation and prosecution. Nothing. Martha was charged and convicted of "obstruction" of the investigation itself. The forensic testimony related solely to the trial itself and the evidence presented. This is a prototypical Inquisition, not a prosecution initiated by any other alleged crime. This is precisely what happened to Clinton in the so-called "perjury trap" ... a finding that related SOLELY to acts within the "due process" itself. It's nothing but Inquisition politics - the fingerprint of autocratic excesses.

But nobody ever expects the Spanish Inquisition.

[nomatrix]

24. As they are dumping her show this week

Free Martha Stewart!

So by releasing this news and her stock rises isn't this the same crap they charged her with.

Who just bought her stock? Stock up 20%

http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2004/05/21/rtr1380606.html


Edited to add link

[AP]

25. If you're rich and white in this country, you are NOT going to jail.

You can afford to have lawyers go through the trial transcript with a fine-toothed comb and investigate every statement made by witnesses.

Does anyone know if this guy perjured himself about something tangential, like his college degrees, or was it about the ink?

[UpInArms]

26. related article: Forensic Expert Charged With Lying in Martha Stewart Case

http://www.thestreet.com/_tscbrk/funds/gregggreenberg/10161722.html

A Secret Service investigator lied about his role examining a spreadsheet used in the insider trading conviction of Martha Stewart and Peter Bacanovic, federal prosecutors alleged Friday.

Larry Stewart, the chief forensic scientist for the Secret Service, had no role in an initial examination of the spreadsheet in August 2002, despite testifying that he was involved in each forensic inspection of the document when he testified Jan. 19, the government alleged. He was charged with two counts of perjury in a complaint released Friday afternoon.

The U.S. attorney does not believe the charges should affect "the integrity or validity" of the convictions.

<snip>

Among other things, Bacanovic was charged with altering a spread-sheet record of Stewart's stock sales, an allegation supported by testimony of the Secret Service examiner, who claimed the ink used to make a notation on the document was different from other ink on the page.

The government contended Bacanovic changed the record to suggest his client had a standing order to sell ImClone "at 60." The existence of a preset stop-loss order was central to the defense argument that Martha Stewart didn't make a perfectly timed stock sale after getting a tip, but simply sold her stock according to existing plans.

Friday's complaint alleges that "notwithstanding his testimony at trial that he had personally participated in each of the forensic examinations of the worksheet, Stewart had no involvement in the original examination of the worksheet conducted in August 2002 and in fact did not even learn of the examination until it was complete," the U.S. attorney said.

...more...

[pacifictiger]

27. I find it VERY curious that they mention

Secret Service guy rather than FBI generic. The function of Secret Service is to protect the president and foreign and public officials isn't it?
Why was he involved, and who let the cat out of the bag?

[AP]

28. The secret service deals with $ forgers. It's likely that they have the

best lab in America to do the forensic testing required in this case.

[Lori Price CLG]

31. You can be sure the two words, 'Secret Service' will soon disappear...

...from any discussion.

-Lori

[moondust]

30. And how well does he know the pResident?

Fascinating.

[AngryAmish]

32. Are you saying that a gov't expert witness lied on the stand?

It can't be. Simply can't be. They never make up facts to get a conviction. Oh boy. I am shocked, I tell you.

[booksenkatz]

33. I hope they never analyze my Dayrunner...

I use different ink, sometimes pencils, anything that's handy. What the hell does it prove????? You can't prove WHEN something was jotted down based upon mere ink color. I don't care who you are.

[Lori Price CLG]

34. Also, one of the jurors in the case had perjured himself, as well.

This case needs to be tossed, and the Enron maggots need to be tried, instead.
-Lori Price

[AP]

38. Did he perjure himself?

The only time jurors can perjure themselves is if they're under oath at the voir dire and lie when they answer questions about their ability to serve.

IIRC, the juror merely said stuff revealing his hostility towards Stewart after the trial.

I don't remember hearing that he lied at the voir dire.

[PopSixSquish]

35. OK - Explain it to Me Like I'm 5 Years Old

How can this not get Martha Stewart a new trial? If the defense had the information and was able to impeach the agent's testimony at trial, at the very least wouldn't that have changed the judge's jury instructions?

By that I mean, as a jury you may consider the fact that a witness lied about one aspect of his testimony to discount all of his testimony

Or couldn't the defense have asked the judge to throw out all of the testimony of this witness

Or the defense could have argued during closing that government was fabricating it's entire case

This information could of had an impact on how Stewart's lawyer conducted the rest of their defense.

Can the DU lawyers help me here?

[robbedvoter]

36. Of the top of my head: depends on the judge

This was a political trial - so it may stay that way depending on the judge who gets to assess the mistrial. If he wants martha to stay an example of what happens to those donating to democrats, he may say that the testimony of the impeached witnes was not material to the reaching the decision.

[Lori Price CLG]

39. Right, and only a GOPer would say that this was *not* a political trial...

It can't get any more obvious.

-Lori Price

[True_Blue]

37. Here's a link from Yahoo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A government witness was charged with lying to help convict lifestyle trendsetter Martha Stewart (news - web sites), officials said on Friday, raising questions of whether her conspiracy conviction could be thrown out.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=568&ncid=749&e=1&u=/nm/20040521/bs_nm/media_marthastewart_dc

Looks like it might be a good time to invest in Martha Stewart stock.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=mso&d=t