But Martha Stewart’s comeback will have to wait. It’s being held up by, well, Martha Stewart. The domestic diva is appealing her conviction, and that could drag out her legal drama until the end of 2005, experts say. She will remain free while she appeals. In her quest to clear her name, though, Stewart is forestalling her company’s comeback and depriving America of its favorite story line: redemption. In order to rehab both herself and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, marketing pros say Stewart needs to atone for her sins. Instead, she’s squandering growing public sympathy, which even Judge Miriam Cedarbaum seemed to display. “I believe you have suffered,” the judge said, “and will continue to suffer.” Stewart’s company is also suffering. With ad pages down 51 percent and her TV show on hiatus, it’s expected to lose a record $37 million this year. “She hasn’t demonstrated the regret a lot of people wish she had,” says ad exec George Fertitta, whose client Godiva chocolates dropped out of Martha Stewart Living. “Everybody thinks, ‘Let’s just get this over with’.”
Stewart, though, can’t utter those two little words–“I’m sorry”–as long as she’s appealing. She expressed sorrow for her 200 employees who’ve lost their jobs. But rather than accepting responsibility, Stewart unveiled her appeal strategy. “There is strong evidence that this wasn’t a fair trial,” declared her latest hired gun, Walter Dellinger. He contends that includes the alleged perjury of a juror and witness. He also argues that prosecutors implied Stewart engaged in insider trading, though she was never charged with it. Legal experts say Stewart’s biggest obstacle is the damning testimony from her stockbroker’s assistant, her best friend and her secretary (make that former friend and ex-secretary). Her broker, Peter Bacanovic, also received five months in jail and five months of house arrest.
Given the ultralight sentence Stewart received, serving it might be the quickest way to end her nightmare. The judge recommended that Stewart spend her first five months at the minimum-security women’s prison camp in Danbury, Conn. Set amid rolling hills and streams, Danbury’s guards worry more about trespassing hikers than breakouts. Stewart will have to work a 12-cents-an-hour job, but she can also take Pilates and quiltmaking classes. Danbury will seem like hard time compared with the “mansion arrest” Stewart will serve. She’ll be allowed to leave her country house for a total of 48 hours a week to work or even to shop. A sticking point: will she wear an electronic tether? Her lawyers told the judge that Stewart would prefer to check in by phone, rather than sport the clunky ankle bracelet. Authorities say they can’t track the device if she roams her 153-acre estate.
Investors–giddy with the naive expectation that Stewart would go straight to jail and be back on the job by New Year’s–sent her stock soaring 37 percent on Friday. Once they realize a lengthy appeal will delay her comeback, analysts expect her stock to fall back to about $9–half its value before the scandal. Ironically, ImClone has rebounded to about $78–$20 more than Martha sold it for on that fateful day in December 2001. To weary advertisers, it seems like Stewart’s rebound will never come. Says Deutsch Inc. ad exec Peter Gardiner: “You wish she’d just say, ‘I made a mistake, I’m doing my time and then we can move on’.” Martha isn’t ready to move on. Hours after her sentencing, she went on ABC with Barbara Walters to compare herself to Nelson Mandela and insist: “I didn’t cheat the little people. We’re all little people.” Maybe. But for now at least, accepting responsibility for human failings is beyond the skills of the queen of perfection.
