NEW YORK – Even at a wrenching moment of surrender, Martha Stewart was – as always – under impeccable control.
Her announcement Wednesday that she would report to prison as soon as possible came in a studio before a brilliant backdrop of color swatches perfectly choreographed for television. She lamented that she would miss her beloved pets – cats, dogs, horses, canaries and chickens – and hoped to be free in time for her cherished spring gardening.
“I must reclaim my good life,” the 63-year-old millionaire declared. “I must return to my good works and allow those around me who work with me to do the same.”
Her lawyers stressed that her appeal would proceed.
Stewart said she hoped to end a period of “immense difficulty, immense sacrifice and immense agony” for herself and her media empire, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc.
Shares in Martha Stewart Living rose 12 cents to close at $11.26 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock traded at about $19 a share before Stewart’s name was tied to the scandal.
People close to the domestic entrepreneur said they expected her to report to prison – most likely to a facility in Danbury, Conn., near her home, or possibly in Florida – in a matter of weeks. Her lawyers have asked a federal judge to lift a stay placed on her sentence while she appeals her guilty verdict on charges of lying to investigators about a 2001 stock sale.
After the five months in prison, Stewart still must serve five months of house arrest. She has said she will spend that time – during which she will be allowed to work – at her 153-acre horse-country estate north of New York City.
Her lawyers said they were confident a federal appeals court would eventually overturn the verdict, delivered by a New York jury in March.
But a delay motion filed by Peter Bacanovic, the former stockbroker convicted along with Stewart, means the case will not be argued until next year, and Stewart said she was acting to bring “finality” to a personal nightmare.
“The only way to reclaim my life and the quality of life for all those related to me with certainty now is to serve my sentence – surrender to the authorities so that I can quickly return as soon as possible to the life and the work that I love,” she said.
It remains unclear where, and precisely when, Stewart will serve her time.
Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum, the federal judge who presided over Stewart’s trial and imposed the sentence, recommended the minimum-security facility in Danbury, near her New York home. Her lawyers asked the judge on Wednesday to recommend as a second choice the low-security federal prison in Coleman, Fla.
Dan Dunne, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, said assigning a convict to a prison usually takes a couple weeks. Stewart’s lawyers plan to ask for a speedy decision.
Stewart and Bacanovic were convicted March 5 of lying about why Stewart sold 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems Inc. stock on Dec. 27, 2001, the day before a negative announcement about the company that sent the price plunging.
Associated Press
Martha Stewart hopes to be out of prison in time for spring gardening, the domestic diva said Wednesday.
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