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CNN Live At Daybreak

Martha Stewart Trial

Aired February 10, 2004 - 06:52   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: On to the drama that is the Martha Stewart trial. Her assistant took the stand and promptly broke down.
Let's head live to Miami now and our legal analyst Kendall Coffey -- good morning, Kendall.

KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: So, when the jury sees something like this, because she had just mentioned that Martha Stewart gave her some plum pudding for Christmas and then she went on to testify about what messages she passed on to Martha Stewart about the question in question. And then she breaks down.

How does the jury react to something like that?

COFFEY: Well, they react in a couple of ways. First of all, at least it indicates that she's very unhappy to be there testifying against her boss, suggesting that she had positive feelings about Martha Stewart and maybe even making the prosecutors look a little tough to be putting her through this.

On the other hand, it may also suggest, as her testimony unfolds, that she's unhappy and crying because she's going to say things that are truthful and very damaging to Martha Stewart.

COSTELLO: Has she said anything damaging thus far?

COFFEY: Not yet. But the key thing is going to be what happens with the change in the telephone log. Because the prosecution puts a lot on the fact that at one point the message about ImClone's stock trading downward was deleted, then it was restored. From a Martha Stewart standpoint, that's a temporary lapse. But from the prosecution standpoint, if you tamper with evidence, even if you untamper it later, that's still a crime.

COSTELLO: Let's talk a little bit about Douglas Faneuil. Because upon cross-examination, he didn't do too badly, actually.

COFFEY: Well, he did well. And you saw yesterday a shift from trying to pulverize the witness to trying to minimize the testimony. Some have described him as looking like a young Matthew Broderick. And I think the defense lawyers became concerned that they were starting to look like the grouchy principal in Broderick's film, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Not a good thing to be looking unlovable and I think for that reason they took a very different tack in cross- examination yesterday. COSTELLO: How damaging was his testimony?

COFFEY: Very damaging to Bacanovic. Maybe not so damaging to Martha Stewart, because her lawyer brought out yesterday that he had not really heard Martha Stewart tell him to lie or cover-up and he had really no direct knowledge of anything she was doing as part of the cover-up.

Interesting question, Carol, whether at some point this becomes a dividing line between the two defendants who have hung together pretty well. And maybe it's still possible that if Bacanovic sees this case breaking badly, he reconsiders his decision so far not to come to terms and make a plea deal with the government. It could be a blockbuster and change everything if he were, in fact, to change his course mid-trial.

COSTELLO: One last question for you. Some would say the defense attorneys are underestimating this jury. In fact, when they introduced possible drug use by Douglas Faneuil, the jury didn't take that very well, did it?

COFFEY: Well, they really, I think always you see people underestimate juries in the sense of you never know what's going to work. I've seen juries really roll their eyes and gasp when they find out that somebody's a drug user. But let's face it, New Yorkers have seen a lot of things and there wasn't too much they've seen in this trial yesterday that was going to shock anybody or have them drop out of their chairs.

COSTELLO: All right, Kendall Coffey live from Miami.

Many thanks.

COFFEY: Thanks, Carol.

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 February 10, 2004 - 06:52   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: On to the drama that is the Martha Stewart trial. Her assistant took the stand and promptly broke down.
Let's head live to Miami now and our legal analyst Kendall Coffey -- good morning, Kendall.

KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: So, when the jury sees something like this, because she had just mentioned that Martha Stewart gave her some plum pudding for Christmas and then she went on to testify about what messages she passed on to Martha Stewart about the question in question. And then she breaks down.

How does the jury react to something like that?

COFFEY: Well, they react in a couple of ways. First of all, at least it indicates that she's very unhappy to be there testifying against her boss, suggesting that she had positive feelings about Martha Stewart and maybe even making the prosecutors look a little tough to be putting her through this.

On the other hand, it may also suggest, as her testimony unfolds, that she's unhappy and crying because she's going to say things that are truthful and very damaging to Martha Stewart.

COSTELLO: Has she said anything damaging thus far?

COFFEY: Not yet. But the key thing is going to be what happens with the change in the telephone log. Because the prosecution puts a lot on the fact that at one point the message about ImClone's stock trading downward was deleted, then it was restored. From a Martha Stewart standpoint, that's a temporary lapse. But from the prosecution standpoint, if you tamper with evidence, even if you untamper it later, that's still a crime.

COSTELLO: Let's talk a little bit about Douglas Faneuil. Because upon cross-examination, he didn't do too badly, actually.

COFFEY: Well, he did well. And you saw yesterday a shift from trying to pulverize the witness to trying to minimize the testimony. Some have described him as looking like a young Matthew Broderick. And I think the defense lawyers became concerned that they were starting to look like the grouchy principal in Broderick's film, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Not a good thing to be looking unlovable and I think for that reason they took a very different tack in cross- examination yesterday. COSTELLO: How damaging was his testimony?

COFFEY: Very damaging to Bacanovic. Maybe not so damaging to Martha Stewart, because her lawyer brought out yesterday that he had not really heard Martha Stewart tell him to lie or cover-up and he had really no direct knowledge of anything she was doing as part of the cover-up.

Interesting question, Carol, whether at some point this becomes a dividing line between the two defendants who have hung together pretty well. And maybe it's still possible that if Bacanovic sees this case breaking badly, he reconsiders his decision so far not to come to terms and make a plea deal with the government. It could be a blockbuster and change everything if he were, in fact, to change his course mid-trial.

COSTELLO: One last question for you. Some would say the defense attorneys are underestimating this jury. In fact, when they introduced possible drug use by Douglas Faneuil, the jury didn't take that very well, did it?

COFFEY: Well, they really, I think always you see people underestimate juries in the sense of you never know what's going to work. I've seen juries really roll their eyes and gasp when they find out that somebody's a drug user. But let's face it, New Yorkers have seen a lot of things and there wasn't too much they've seen in this trial yesterday that was going to shock anybody or have them drop out of their chairs.

COSTELLO: All right, Kendall Coffey live from Miami.

Many thanks.

COFFEY: Thanks, Carol.

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