Domestic Goddess's Trial Splits America

An elderly man, with a black woolly hat pulled down low over his head, approached the mob of shivering journalists outside the supreme court in lower Manhattan yesterday morning to ask what the fuss was all about.

"It's the Martha Stewart trial," a television reporter told him. "Who?" he replied. "Martin Stewart? Is he a presidential candidate?"

As he wandered off, one wag noted that he should have been on the jury.

There are, after all, precious few in the United States who have either not heard of Ms Stewart or remain untouched by the blanket media coverage that has included two high-profile TV interviews.

The difficult task of jury selection began yesterday behind closed doors.

Ms Stewart is facing allegations of lying to officials investigating possible insider dealing in her sale of shares in the biotechnology company, ImClone Systems, in December 2001. She entered a plea of not guilty yesterday in a barely audible voice.

At 62 and as one of the most visible businesswomen in America, Ms Stewart is polarising opinion.

She hosts TV shows on cookery and "home making", has a best-selling lifestyle magazine, a syndicated newspaper column answering questions on recipes for hot chocolate or the best kind of mothballs to use to protect clothes and sells a range of everyday merchandise such as towels and bedding.

It was hoped the website, Savemartha.com, would rally an army of fans to picket outside the courtroom, but only two braved the bitter cold - and consequently found themselves instant celebrities. Optimistically, one held a cardboard folder full of placards to hand out to other supporters, should they turn up.

Ms Stewart arrived in a full-length dark blue coat, ignoring the media and giving just a brief wave to her two fans as they shouted, "we love you, Martha", and "you go, girl".

John Small, 42, a marketing consultant from Manhattan who runs the Savemartha.com website, said he would be outside the court for the entire trial, which is expected to last six weeks. He was dressed in a chef's hat and apron bearing the legend: She Didn't Do The Crime, But She Sure Can Do The Thyme.

"Martha Stewart is on trial for being Martha Stewart and in America. That's not right," he said. "Prosecutors think they can make an example of her to scare off corporate fraudsters. It won't work."

Linda Smith, from Camden, New Jersey, added: "I'm here because I think Martha is getting a raw deal and I'm here to show my support.

"I don't want her to go down. They are putting her in with WorldCom and Enron, but she doesn't belong in those categories. Martha has done so much good for America."

Ms Stewart sold shares in ImClone, run by her friend Sam Waksal, the day before a potentially blockbusting drug in development was rejected by regulators.

Mr Waksal, who admitted he tried to sell shares in the com pany that day and tipped off his family members, is now serving a prison sentence of more than seven years for acting on inside information.

But Ms Stewart is not on trial for insider dealing. Instead, she faces allegations that she lied to prosecutors as they investigated her share sale. She also faces allegations that she propped up shares in her own company by making public statements declaring she had done nothing wrong.

The indictment alleges that Ms Stewart and her Merrill Lynch stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, doctored telephone records and other documents to create the impression that they had a pre-arranged agreement to sell the shares when the price fell below the $60 (£33) level.