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American Morning
Government's Lead Witness in Martha Stewart Trial Back on Stand
Aired February 09, 2004 - 07:34 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The government's lead witness in the Martha Stewart trial will be back on the stand today and Stewart's attorneys will get their first crack at cross-examining Douglas Faneuil.
CNN's senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin with us this morning to talk a little bit about what we can expect this time around -- good morning.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: It seems like the defense has two options. They can either say Doug Faneuil is a big fat liar or they can say Doug Faneuil, who's Doug Faneuil, what does he know?
What do you think their strategy is going to be?
TOOBIN: Well, I think Peter Bacanovic's lawyers picked the former. Peter Bacanovic's lawyers set out to trash the guy, I mean basically said he's a druggie, he's a liar, he's just simply not to be believed.
Today, Robert Morvillo, cross-examining for Martha Stewart, I think will take the second option more than the first. He's going to say look, this case is really about one one or two minute phone call between Douglas Faneuil and Martha Stewart where she was on a tarmac, where her private plane was refueling, got advice to sell stock. I think he's going to say look, you had no relationship with this woman. She had no reason to trust you in particular. You were just passing on a message to sell stock, she sold stock, there was nothing untoward or unusual about that. I think that's the message it's going to be.
O'BRIEN: The e-mails that say, "Baby put Martha in her place," and that's supposedly from Douglas Faneuil talking about a testy phone call that he had with Martha Stewart. I guess she hung up on him and eventually he sort of got back at her a little bit.
Do you think that -- who does that serve?
TOOBIN: Well, see, that's, that's what was so peculiar about that evidence is that, you know, Faneuil testified on direct that he had had only about five or six dealings with Martha Stewart total. Once on cross-examination it came out that she basically every time they had spoken had screamed at him about something and once, you know, complaining even about the hold music at Merrill Lynch. You know... O'BRIEN: The kind you get in your ear while you're waiting.
TOOBIN: Right. Exactly.
I think...
O'BRIEN: It is annoying music.
TOOBIN: It is, it can be annoying and she said I'm going to take all my money out of Merrill Lynch unless they change the hold music. And even Peter Bacanovic had to laugh at that. It -- I think it's, it cuts both ways. Mostly it helps Martha Stewart. It shows that Faneuil had an axe to grind against her and I think that's going to be helpful.
O'BRIEN: A quick last question for you.
The judge said -- and these are notes that were taken in sidebar, so this is not in front of the jury -- it's not the soul evidence, it's very, very strong circumstantial evidence. She's talking about Doug Faneuil's role in the case.
One, how unusual is it that a judge would say this and how damning, potentially, is it?
TOOBIN: It's not all that unusual. Judges have to make judgments about that. But, you know, those of us who were sitting there in court trying to struggle about how strong a case this is, frankly, I'm very torn about how strong a case it is. And I thought it was interesting that the judge, who is an objective observer, although not someone with a vote on the jury, said she thought it was a very strong circumstantial case at this point and that can't be something that Stewart and her lawyers want to hear at this point.
O'BRIEN: Well, we will see what happens, as we seem to say every single time about this case.
TOOBIN: That's right.
I'm heading back down to court right now.
O'BRIEN: Yes, you are.
All right, Jeff, thanks a lot.
TOOBIN: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Stand>
Aired February 9, 2004 - 07:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The government's lead witness in the Martha Stewart trial will be back on the stand today and Stewart's attorneys will get their first crack at cross-examining Douglas Faneuil.
CNN's senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin with us this morning to talk a little bit about what we can expect this time around -- good morning.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: It seems like the defense has two options. They can either say Doug Faneuil is a big fat liar or they can say Doug Faneuil, who's Doug Faneuil, what does he know?
What do you think their strategy is going to be?
TOOBIN: Well, I think Peter Bacanovic's lawyers picked the former. Peter Bacanovic's lawyers set out to trash the guy, I mean basically said he's a druggie, he's a liar, he's just simply not to be believed.
Today, Robert Morvillo, cross-examining for Martha Stewart, I think will take the second option more than the first. He's going to say look, this case is really about one one or two minute phone call between Douglas Faneuil and Martha Stewart where she was on a tarmac, where her private plane was refueling, got advice to sell stock. I think he's going to say look, you had no relationship with this woman. She had no reason to trust you in particular. You were just passing on a message to sell stock, she sold stock, there was nothing untoward or unusual about that. I think that's the message it's going to be.
O'BRIEN: The e-mails that say, "Baby put Martha in her place," and that's supposedly from Douglas Faneuil talking about a testy phone call that he had with Martha Stewart. I guess she hung up on him and eventually he sort of got back at her a little bit.
Do you think that -- who does that serve?
TOOBIN: Well, see, that's, that's what was so peculiar about that evidence is that, you know, Faneuil testified on direct that he had had only about five or six dealings with Martha Stewart total. Once on cross-examination it came out that she basically every time they had spoken had screamed at him about something and once, you know, complaining even about the hold music at Merrill Lynch. You know... O'BRIEN: The kind you get in your ear while you're waiting.
TOOBIN: Right. Exactly.
I think...
O'BRIEN: It is annoying music.
TOOBIN: It is, it can be annoying and she said I'm going to take all my money out of Merrill Lynch unless they change the hold music. And even Peter Bacanovic had to laugh at that. It -- I think it's, it cuts both ways. Mostly it helps Martha Stewart. It shows that Faneuil had an axe to grind against her and I think that's going to be helpful.
O'BRIEN: A quick last question for you.
The judge said -- and these are notes that were taken in sidebar, so this is not in front of the jury -- it's not the soul evidence, it's very, very strong circumstantial evidence. She's talking about Doug Faneuil's role in the case.
One, how unusual is it that a judge would say this and how damning, potentially, is it?
TOOBIN: It's not all that unusual. Judges have to make judgments about that. But, you know, those of us who were sitting there in court trying to struggle about how strong a case this is, frankly, I'm very torn about how strong a case it is. And I thought it was interesting that the judge, who is an objective observer, although not someone with a vote on the jury, said she thought it was a very strong circumstantial case at this point and that can't be something that Stewart and her lawyers want to hear at this point.
O'BRIEN: Well, we will see what happens, as we seem to say every single time about this case.
TOOBIN: That's right.
I'm heading back down to court right now.
O'BRIEN: Yes, you are.
All right, Jeff, thanks a lot.
TOOBIN: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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