by TChris

Martha Stewart's fate is now in the hands of a jury. The case against Stewart's former Merrill Lynch broker and current co-defendant, Peter Bacanovic, was also submitted to the jury, but the judge made a point of instructing jurors not to hold the joint trial against either defendant.

"You are to consider the charges separately against each defendant ... as if that defendant were being tried alone," U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum said at the beginning of jury instructions. "You can find one guilty without finding the other guilty.

"The fact the defendants are being tried together is not evidence of anything," she said.

During closing arguments yesterday, Stewart's lawyer, Robert Morvillo, conceded that Stewart learned that ImClone founder Sam Waksal was dumping shares in his own company.

"No one is disputing whether or not Martha knew the Waksals were selling on December 27th. Frankly what we are disputing is that it made a difference to her," defense attorney Morvillo said.

Morvillo argued that Stewart had a preexisting arrangement to sell her ImClone stock if it fell to $60. He also argued that Stewart was too smart to have staged such a botched attempt at a cover-up.

Update: No verdict today. The jurors will sleep on it and renew their deliberations in the morning.

So far, jurors have been inquisitive.