StewartNEW YORK (AP):
CELEBRITY HOMEMAKER Martha Stewart was sentenced yesterday to five months in prison in a stock-trading scandal, moving the millionaire entrepreneur one step closer to a drastically different lifestyle behind bars.
"I'll be back," she promised afterward, speaking in a strong voice on the courthouse steps. "I'm not afraid. Not afraid whatsoever. I'm very sorry it had to come to this."
HOME CONFINEMENT
Stewart also was ordered to serve five months of home confinement for lying to federal investigators. Stewart, who was fined US$30,000, was spared an immediate trip to federal prison when U.S. District Court Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum stayed her sentence pending appeal.
In the courtroom, her voice was shaky as she appealed for a reduced sentence, asking the judge to "remember all the good I have done."
"Today is a shameful day. It's shameful for me, for my family and for my company," she said.
