Stewart
NEW YORK -- Federal prosecutors scoffed Friday at Martha Stewart's request to cut short her home confinement so she can work more, including on her two new TV shows being produced by reality scion Mark Burnett.
"Minor inconvenience to one's ability to star in a television show is an insufficient ground for resentencing," prosecutor Michael Schachter wrote in a filing submitted to U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum.
Stewart began serving the five-month home-confinement term last month after spending five months at a federal prison camp in West Virginia.
In papers filed in support of Stewart's request, Burnett told Cedarbaum that the electronic anklet Stewart is required to wear interferes with taping. In addition to preventing her from wearing "skirts or dresses," the anklet prevents her from going outside and being taped in the gardens at her sprawling Westchester County estate.
Burnett is producing a daytime homemaking show starring Stewart, as well as a primetime reality show for NBC patterned after Donald Trump's "The Apprentice."
Stewart is arguing that recent changes to federal sentencing laws dictate that her five-month home confinement term be cut short. She told Cedarbaum that the terms of the home confinement allow her to work only 48 hours a week, which isn't enough if she is to run her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. She wants to be able to work 80 hours a week, including on the two TV shows.
Prosecutors say Stewart's sentence was already lenient. They say the homemaking diva has further shown no "remorse" or taken "responsibility" for her crime.
Martha Stewart Living issued a statement Friday saying that Stewart continues to be an "inspiration" to all staffers. And in a recent note to fans posted own her Web site, Stewart said she was managing with the anklet but that the contraption was causing her skin to chafe.
In the month Stewart has been out of prison, her company's stock has taken a downturn after seeing a sharp uptick, which many attributed to a sympathy factor. Shares were down 27¢ to close at $22.32 in trading Friday.
Contact Pamela McClintock at
pamela.mcclintock@variety.com