Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

Martha wins a round

Reuters is reporting that the judge in Martha Stewart's civil securities fraud case has refused to stay discovery in the civil case. This is a win for Martha because most of the prosecution witnesses in the criminal case are also potential witnesses in the civil case. With this ruling, Martha's lawyers should be able to depose them on the civil side, which will also be useful on the criminal side. In addition, the judge handed Martha a PR win by noting from the bench that:

"I read this indictment. I tell you something ... we have seen a lot more serious obstruction cases. This is not the strongest obstruction case I have ever seen. This is not John Gotti," the judge said, according to a transcript of the pretrial hearing, referring to the notorious Mafia figure.

The judge, John Sprizzo, according to Reuters, is a former prosecutor. My take on all this is here and here.