I agree with the mostly sympathetic column “Chewing over Martha Stewart’s demise; Just deserts or did justice desert her?” (Commentary, March 10), by Kathleen Parker, a syndicated columnist for the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.
It does seem that Stewart has been so aggressively prosecuted mainly because she’s a celebrity, and not a generally well-liked one.
Apparently her real crimes have been hubris, lying to the government, arrogance, a superiority complex and a “grating grandiosity.”
Whatever wrongs she may have committed, it seems she harmed mainly herself.
Yet many of the corporate bigwigs, who are guilty of robbing countless people of their life savings, got away with it.
I’d hate to deprive some people of the pleasure of seeing the high and mighty brought down low, but I hope Stewart’s sentence is merely a fine and community service.
Prison time seems too harsh in this case.
