[baracuda]

Someone educate me here. Why, after sentencing, is Martha Stewart not starting to serve her sentence?

If you or I was just finished getting sentenced by a judge for being convicted of a felony don't you know that they would take you straight from the court room to the jailhouse.

What gives here? Any enlightened legal scholars please explain.

[Mike Bates]

According to CBS News:
But (Judge) Cedarbaum, citing nationwide confusion over a recent Supreme Court ruling on sentencings, allowed Stewart to postpone the sentence while her lawyers appeal her conviction - a process that could take months, and that legal experts have called an uphill battle.

[BikerNYC]

In general, one of two things could be at work.

Judges often let non-violent defendants surrender directly to the correctional facility the Bureau of Prisons designates as the insitutition which will house the inmate. A surrender date is arranged weeks after the actual sentence.

For short sentences, defendants are often granted bail pending appeal, allowing them to appeal their convictions before serving the entire sentence. If Martha's sentnece was five years and not five months, I bet ya that while she may have been allowed to surrender to the designated institution, she would not have been given bail pending appeal.

[Eva]

She was permitted to remain free until her appeals are exhausted.