NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Jury selection is set to begin Tuesday in the Martha Stewart criminal trial, where the self-made lifestyle maven will try to defend herself against charges of obstruction of justice, making false statements and securities fraud.
Stewart, 62, sold nearly 4,000 shares of ImClone Systems (IMCL: Research, Estimates) stock Dec. 27, 2001, a day before regulators rejected the company's application for approval of Erbitux, ImClone's experimental cancer drug -- news that send its stock tumbling. She's accused of lying to investigators and the public about the circumstances surrounding that sale.
Stewart has maintained that she didn't have inside information and had a long-standing arrangement with her broker to sell ImClone stock at a certain price. Both Stewart and the broker, Peter Bacanovic, have pleaded innocent to charges of obstruction of justice.
Merrill Lynch suspended Bacanovic in June 2002 after the firm found conflicting accounts about whether Stewart's agreement with Bacanovic about an ImClone sale existed. Stewart stepped down as CEO of Martha Stewart Living (MSO: up $0.44 to $10.60, Research, Estimates) in an effort to minimize that company's falling stock prices, resulting at least in part from the publicity surrounding the allegations against her.
Lawyers from both sides will screen potential jurors carefully, asking questions about their knowledge of the case and whether they like or dislike Stewart, a legal expert said Monday.
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A legal expert says finding 12 men and women who don't have strong opinions about Martha Stewart, above, may be difficult as jury selection begins Jan. 6, 2004.
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"The prosecutors will want to make sure that the prospective jurors won't be intimidated or influenced by her celebrity status," said Henry Mazurek, a lawyer with the firm Gerald Shargel in New York.
If a perspective juror has read about Stewart or watched her interviews on TV, "the judge will most likely ask the person if he or she will be able set the knowledge aside," said Mazurek, who specializes in white-collar criminal defense.
The defense team will want jurors who'll give her the benefit of the doubt and honor the presumption of innocence, legal experts said. But finding 12 jurors without a strong opinion about Stewart may be difficult.
U.S. District Court Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum will review the jurors chosen on Jan. 20, according to the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York.
Mazurek estimated the trial will start on or about Jan. 26, soon after jury selection is finalized, though it could take longer.
Once the government rests its case, the defense will determine whether Stewart will testify.
A guilty conviction on all counts could mean a prison sentence of as much as 30 years for Stewart and 25 years for Bacanovic, the U.S. Attorney's office said.
But if Stewart is convicted on all counts, she'll probably face three-to-five years, Mazurek said, since full maximum sentences are rarely imposed.
Sam Waksal, ImClone's founder and a friend of Stewart, is currently serving a seven-year prison term after pleading guilty to charges of trying to sell ImClone (IMCL: Research, Estimates) stock before the Erbitux news broke.
A spokeswoman for Stewart wasn't immediately available for comment Monday.
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