Jurors Acquit Stewart Witness

A U.S. Secret Service ink expert was found not guilty Tuesday of lying during his testimony at the trial of Martha Stewart.

A federal jury in New York acquitted Larry Stewart on its second day of deliberations, finding him innocent of charges that he gave false testimony about tests conducted on an important piece of evidence used in Martha Stewart’s case.

Larry Stewart, who would have faced up to 10 years in prison if he had been convicted, hugged his lawyers after the verdict was read, but later described the trial as “painful.”

“It feels great now,” he said.

Stewart, who has been suspended from his job as a laboratory director at the Secret Service, added, “I don’t want that job back.”

Larry Stewart and Martha Stewart are not related.

The jury of eight men and four women returned the verdict the same week that Martha Stewart was due to report to a federal prison camp in West Virginia to begin serving her five-month sentence for lying about a stock sale.

Martha Stewart’s lawyers are appealing her case. They had been expected to use allegations that the ink expert lied to bolster their argument that she was unfairly convicted.

Manhattan U.S. Atty. David Kelley, whose office brought the cases against Martha Stewart and Larry Stewart, said he never believed that the perjury charges against the ink expert would affect Martha Stewart’s appeal.

Federal prosecutors called Larry Stewart as a witness at the lifestyle entrepreneur’s trial to raise questions about the authenticity of a worksheet introduced by the defense.

But after his testimony, Susan Fortunato, a co-worker in the ink lab, complained that he had testified about tests that she had done, essentially taking credit for her work.

Federal prosecutors, who only months before used him as an expert witness, charged the ink expert with perjury.

At trial, Larry Stewart’s lawyers argued that Fortunato’s allegations were part of a long feud between the co-workers, a feud that once included a sexual harassment claim.

Jurors said they had trouble believing Fortunato, who was grilled about the harassment when she took the witness stand. “Most of us felt she did have an ax to grind,” said juror Judith Robinson Brodsky.