U.S. Contends Stewart Juror Wasn’t Biased

Martha Stewart’s request for a new trial “does not come close” to meeting the legal standard for tossing out a jury’s guilty verdict, federal prosecutors told the judge in the case.

Stewart, 62, wants a new trial because, she said, juror Chappell Hartridge didn’t disclose during jury selection that he had been arrested for assaulting his girlfriend. Stewart said Hartridge was biased against her and would have been rejected had he disclosed his arrest.

Federal prosecutors in New York on Wednesday filed papers contending that Hartridge was not biased.

“The most plausible explanation for Mr. Hartridge’s nondisclosure of the arrest is that he believed that he was not required to disclose it at all,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Karen Patton Seymour wrote to U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum.

Stewart, founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., was convicted in March of lying to federal investigators about her sale of about 4,000 shares of ImClone Systems Inc. stock.

After the trial, Hartridge called the verdict “a victory for the little guys.” Stewart cited his comments as evidence he was biased against wealthy executives.