NEW YORK, March 18 (UPI) -- Martha Stewart got a break from home confinement Thursday when she attended an appeal of her conviction on federal charges.
The Washington Post reports that Stewart wore long slacks to the federal courthouse in Manhattan so that onlookers were unable to determine if she was wearing her ankle monitor.
Stewart has completed a five-month prison term in the federal facility in Alderson, W. Va., and is in the midst of five months of confinement at her home in Westchester County. She is allowed to spend 48 hours a week working for the company she founded.
Stewart was convicted of conspiracy and lying to investigators looking into her sale of Imclone stock after she got a tip from her stockbroker that the company founder was selling his shares. Ironically, investigators later decided that Stewart's stock transaction was not insider trading.
During Thursday's hearing, Stewart's lawyers asked for a reversal, arguing that prosecutors wrongfully played tapes of statements made by her broker without calling him as a witness. They also pointed to a juror who was later found to have lied on his questionnaire.
Stewart is also seeking a resentencing on the grounds that the federal sentencing guidelines have been found unconstitutional.
