[Al Simmons]

"Let me guess, he saw it coming right around September 21st."

Don't know anything about that, but recall reading a piece some years ago about how, when she divorced him, she tried to scre* him out of his share of the business, which he had helped her start. Did not paint a flattering picture of her, and have not thought much of her since.

Martha should have talked to Leona Helmsley before she decided to go 'the full monte' in the trial.

Regarding her lawyer, whose performance violated several (based on my experience) cardinal rules of succesful defense, i.e.:

a. If the Gov't offers a deal, and the evidence looks decidedly one-sided, take it, and

b. If your client really wants to be acquitted in a case where the evidence is decidely one-sided, he/she must take the stand, engender sympathy, and lie well err..... testify credibly....

OTOH, it is quite possible that Martha was the one who drove the "zero-sum" game strategy....in which case the dude defending her should have punched...I would have...it didn't take a brain surgeon to figure what was going to happen given the way the defense handled this case....remember Mike Tyson and Leona Helmsley, both of whom were convicted of more serious crimes based on (arguably) less evidence than the Gov't had against Ms. Stewart.

[Bonaparte]

"If the Gov't offers a deal, and the evidence looks decidedly one-sided, take it"

She wouldn't let him do a deal. He probably begged her to.

"...she must take the stand..."

In this case, the prosecution would have torn her a new one on cross. It would have opened all sorts of doors Morvillo wisely wanted to keep closed, not the least of which was a virtual "discovery" in advance of her forthcoming civil trial (coming soon to a courtroom near you).

Everybody's trashing her attorney. He did the best he could do with an extremely difficult client under adverse conditions. I'm surprised he even took the case.

[nopardons]

Martha's treated Andy and ALL of her family and friends like garbage.

She has had Andy (I'll just stick to him right now)do all kinds of backbreaking work,for years, after he'd already put in a day's work, at his job, whatever that was at the time. If it hadn't been for the fact that he was running a well known publishing house,her first book would NEVER have been published.For years, he was her favorite doormat. He grew a bit of a backbone,during the divorce.