Stewart seeks retrial, calls juror dishonest

Man failed to disclose brushes with law, her lawyers argue

Associated Press

April 1, 2004

NEW YORK - Martha Stewart requested a new trial yesterday, saying one of the jurors who convicted her failed to disclose a checkered past that includes an arrest on assault charges.

Stewart's lawyers said juror Chappell Hartridge has been sued three times and has been accused of stealing money from a Little League group - but improperly left the accusations off his jury questionnaire.

The lawyers said Hartridge, who called Stewart's guilty verdict a victory for "the little guy," showed a clear bias against Stewart that damaged her right to a fair trial.

"Ms. Stewart's conviction cannot stand," Stewart lawyer Robert Morvillo wrote in a filing in Manhattan federal court.

Marvin Smilon, a spokesman for the federal prosecutors who brought the case against the domestic entrepreneur, said: "We are reviewing the motion and will respond at the appropriate time."

Stewart was convicted March 5 in U.S. District Court of lying to federal investigators about her sale of 3,298 shares of ImClone Systems Inc. stock Dec. 27, 2001, the day before before it plunged in reaction to a negative government report.

Prison term

She is to be sentenced June 17. Legal experts believe she will receive a sentence of 10 to 16 months in prison for the four guilty counts - obstructing justice, conspiracy and two counts of making false statements.

Morvillo claimed he would have moved to strike Hartridge from the jury had Hartridge given truthful answers on his jury questionnaire - perhaps opening the way for a juror who would have found Stewart innocent.

Hartridge could not immediately be reached for comment on the allegations. A phone number that matches his Bronx address was listed as out of service, and a message left at an alternate number was not returned.

Hartridge was the most vocal of the 12 jurors who convicted Stewart, speaking at length to reporters outside the courthouse March 5 and making several television appearances.

"Maybe it's a victory for the little guy who loses money in the markets because of these types of transactions," he told reporters after the verdict.

Woman's affidavit

The Stewart filing said Hartridge was arrested and spent several days in jail in 1997, after the woman with whom he was living accused him of threatening to kill her and throwing her into a statue of an elephant in her apartment. The woman was badly bruised, but declined to press charges because she could not miss work to appear in court, the filing said.

Included in the Stewart court filing was an affidavit from the woman, who said Hartridge was "occasionally physically abusive" to her during the four months they lived together.

The juror also failed to disclose on his jury questionnaire that he had been sued three times, the Stewart filing said. The papers said civil judgments had been entered against him in each case.