[ewing]

The Scott Peterson trial's 15 minutes appear to be up..

[Ed_in_NJ]

Wonder if they'll allow her to decorate the courtroom before the trial -- so "it's a good thing!"

[glock rocks]

yah... I miss the shark attack alerts, myself.

[MrNeutron1962]

"Martha Stewart intends to declare her innocence "

I know it goes without saying, but in the immortal slang of todays teens , "Well, Duh!!".

[Pistolshot]

[goldstategop]

Martha Stewart will create a lot of attention. The feds best chance of winning over a jury will come if they can portray her as another latter day Leona Helmsley type figure who believes the rules meant for the "little folks" don't apply to her. We'll see.

[lawdude]

It would amount to malpractice to allow a defendant to plead guilty at an initial court appearance. In fact if a lawyer did so, the Judge would require a showing that it was knowingly and intelligently entered.

If so, it would have to be such a good plea offer that it would constitute nearly an invalid plea, if, indeed, it was a valid plea. The Judge would have to look very carefully to ensure that there was no trickery involved.

It costs little for a defense attorney to receive the states case discovery and ascertain if there is a hole in the case. Besides, the offer might just get better.

Standard criminal procedure. Have you ever heard of a major case where the defendant plead guilty at the initial hearing?

[Dog Gone]

Domestic style setter Matha Stewart intends to declare her innocence

No shock there. She's lied from the start.

[Xenalyte]

Wow. I've never been able to plead "innocent" to any infraction. Rank hath its privileges, I guess.

[mabelkitty]

People eventually get exactly what they deserve.