NEW YORK, May 5 (UPI) -- A federal judge in New York has denied Martha Stewart's request for a new trial, E! Online reported Wednesday.
Stewart was found guilty March 5 of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and two counts of "making false statements" and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 17.
Stewart's lawyers claimed her right to a fair trial was compromised because juror Chappell Hartride failed to disclose he had been arrested for alleged assault, accused of embezzlement and sued at least three times, said E! Online.
In a 23-page ruling issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum called allegations Hartridge failed to reveal his arrest "extremely unfortunate," but refused to grant Stewart a new trial.
"Defendants have failed to demonstrate that Hartridge's purported nondisclosures justify vacating their convictions and granting a new trial," Cedarbaum wrote.
But Stewart's lawyers disagreed with Cedarbaum's ruling, noting they would have dismissed Hartridge if they knew about the juror's past.
"We regret that a case about false statements was decided by a juror who appears to have made many false statements in an effort to gain access to the Stewart jury," Robert Morvillo and John Tigue said in a statement.
