Stewart, Bacanovic sentencings to be at separate hours

NEW YORK -- Martha Stewart and her former stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, will be sentenced separately on Friday, a clerk for the sentencing judge said Tuesday.

Stewart will be sentenced at 10 a.m. and Bacanovic will be sentenced at 2:30 p.m., a clerk for U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum said. Both sentencings had previously been scheduled for 10 a.m.

There was no immediate explanation for why the sentencings were separated. Prosecutors declined to comment, and a Stewart spokeswoman did not immediately return a call.

Each defendant is expected to get 10 to 16 months in prison after being convicted of lying to the government about why Stewart sold 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems Inc. stock in late 2001, just before the price plunged.

Last week, Cedarbaum denied new-trial requests from both defendants based on allegations that a government witness from their first trial lied on the witness stand.

The judge said there was "no reasonable likelihood" that the allegedly perjured testimony could have affected the jury's verdict.