She should never have been sent to prison. And she should be freed from house arrest now. As Alan Reynolds pointed out,
Despite the assertions of both jurors and journalists, Martha Stewart was not convicted of insider trading. This misrepresentation is chilling.
Martha Stewart has been convicted of conspiring to cover-up a crime she was not accused of having committed — insider trading. She was convicted of “lying” but never charged with perjury.
Martha Stewart was also convicted of “obstructing justice” without any explanation of how the prosecution of anyone but herself could have been obstructed by her first attorney’s explanation of what motivated her to make a perfectly legal sale of ImClone stock.
Gene Healy drew some important lessons from the case.