Heidi Boils

Stewart factotum drawn and quartered by legal smoothie: Memories turn to jelly—"Get Martha on the phone!"

Elizabeth Koch | February 24, 2004

These are Elizabeth Koch's notes on the Martha Stewart trial.

Theoretically, Judge Cedarbaum made her hearsay rulings this morning; in practice, they had little to do with Heidi Deluca, Martha's Connecticut office administrative business manager, and everything to do with defense attorney David Apfel. The judge did not rule in his favor.

Apfel does his best to question Deluca, but can hardly cough up two words without Cedarbaum blasting him. He asks about Stewart's money transfers: "You cannot lead the witness!" About Heidi's part in the January 3, '03 phone conversation with Doug Faneuil: "I already ruled on that!" About an e-mail Deluca received from Marylin McCallister, an outside accountant, in the beginning of January. "Mr. Apfel, I don't know why you can't abide by what I rule." About anything and everything in between: "Will you just ask the question?"

All of this in the first 10 minutes. The jury looks embarrassed, the press bench holds its collective breath, I have an empathetic panic attack. Apfel, trooper that he is, just keeps on going.

And apparently commits a major blunder, that doesn't make itself known until prosecuting attorney Michael Schachter's cross.

The first part of Deluca's testimony goes much like yesterday, with Heidi now testifying in front of the jury. Apfel asks her about an ImClone conversation that took place between she and Stewart on January 29, 2002.

"Martha asked me, 'What do you remember about ImClone?'" DeLuca says. "I reminded her that ImClone was part of her pension plan, that she tendered shares out of her personal account, and that Peter said he'd talk to her about setting a price bottom of $60 or $61."

So far so good. Just wait.

Michael Schachter has never looked so good. "I've never seen a better cross," a veteran court reporter and legal expert announces at lunch today. Schachter reels Deluca in with a seemingly innocent question about her job requirements. She happily answers.

He continues, "About what percent of you workday do you spend on Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, and what percent for Ms. Stewart's residential services?"

"I'd say 30 percent MSLO, and 70 percent personal."

"Who pays you?"

"MSLO," she blinks without a thought.

"In full?" he reiterates.

"In full." Advice on how to burn a frog suddenly pops in my head. You start out with the temperature on low, so it's sitting all warm and comfy, and slowly turn up the flame.