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Martha Stewart Due in Court Today

Aired June 19, 2003 - 10:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, ANCHOR: We're watching another high profile case. This one in New York. Martha Stewart this hour returns to a federal courtroom for a pretrial hearing in connection with a stock trading scandal.
CNN's Allan Chernoff is outside the courthouse in Manhattan now. He joins us with the very latest.

Hello to you, Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi.

And we've been on Martha watch here in lower Manhattan since early this morning. Miss Stewart and her former stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, scheduled to appear before Judge Miriam Cedarbaum at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time.

This will be a pretrial hearing. And in fact, Ms. Stewart's attorneys had requested that Martha Stewart not be required to attend today, but Judge Cedarbaum said no, she has to be in court.

It's pretty much of a status conference. They'll be talking about schedules. The judge will be asking the lawyers, "How much time do you need for preparation and what do your calendars look like? Do you have any vacations that you have to keep or you really want to keep? Do you have other cases that you'll be trying during this summer or in the fall?"

So they'll be working out a schedule. The judge may, in fact, ask for certain dates to submit motions by. And also, might even set a tentative trial date. We'll have to see about that.

Now the Stewart camp, we understand, may be planning to submit a motion to dismiss the charges. And those charges do include conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, making false statements, as well as securities fraud.

And of course, Martha Stewart has pled innocent and said that she will prove her innocence at trial -- Heidi.

COLLINS: So you mention all of the different charges that are being brought up today, Allan. And I'm just wondering, what is the key charge that they're really going to be focusing on?

CHERNOFF: Heidi, there's no question that this case is all about obstruction of justice. Most attorneys looking at the case have said the securities fraud charge is a relatively weak charge, but it's really about Martha Stewart's story as to why she did sell her ImClone stock, nearly 4,000 shares.

The government simply doesn't believe the story that Martha Stewart told. And they argue in their indictment that Martha Stewart, in fact, tried to hide the true facts, even changing a computer log of a phone message to obstruct justice to prevent the U.S. government from finding out the truth about this story -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Allan Chernoff, live in New York for us with the Martha Stewart case. Thanks so much, Allan.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired June 19, 2003 - 10:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, ANCHOR: We're watching another high profile case. This one in New York. Martha Stewart this hour returns to a federal courtroom for a pretrial hearing in connection with a stock trading scandal.
CNN's Allan Chernoff is outside the courthouse in Manhattan now. He joins us with the very latest.

Hello to you, Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi.

And we've been on Martha watch here in lower Manhattan since early this morning. Miss Stewart and her former stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, scheduled to appear before Judge Miriam Cedarbaum at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time.

This will be a pretrial hearing. And in fact, Ms. Stewart's attorneys had requested that Martha Stewart not be required to attend today, but Judge Cedarbaum said no, she has to be in court.

It's pretty much of a status conference. They'll be talking about schedules. The judge will be asking the lawyers, "How much time do you need for preparation and what do your calendars look like? Do you have any vacations that you have to keep or you really want to keep? Do you have other cases that you'll be trying during this summer or in the fall?"

So they'll be working out a schedule. The judge may, in fact, ask for certain dates to submit motions by. And also, might even set a tentative trial date. We'll have to see about that.

Now the Stewart camp, we understand, may be planning to submit a motion to dismiss the charges. And those charges do include conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, making false statements, as well as securities fraud.

And of course, Martha Stewart has pled innocent and said that she will prove her innocence at trial -- Heidi.

COLLINS: So you mention all of the different charges that are being brought up today, Allan. And I'm just wondering, what is the key charge that they're really going to be focusing on?

CHERNOFF: Heidi, there's no question that this case is all about obstruction of justice. Most attorneys looking at the case have said the securities fraud charge is a relatively weak charge, but it's really about Martha Stewart's story as to why she did sell her ImClone stock, nearly 4,000 shares.

The government simply doesn't believe the story that Martha Stewart told. And they argue in their indictment that Martha Stewart, in fact, tried to hide the true facts, even changing a computer log of a phone message to obstruct justice to prevent the U.S. government from finding out the truth about this story -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Allan Chernoff, live in New York for us with the Martha Stewart case. Thanks so much, Allan.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com