"For most of us, it was the fact that she did have an ax to grind," said juror Judith Robinson Brodsky, an insurance broker who lives in Manhattan.
Jurors also said they focused on an instruction from the judge that, in order to find Stewart guilty, his testimony had to be "material" -- in other words, that it could have influenced the Martha Stewart jury.
Bacanovic was acquitted of a charge that he doctored the stock worksheet to reflect a cover story for why Martha Stewart sold ImClone Systems Inc. stock just before its share price plunged.
Regardless of the verdict, the allegation that a prosecution expert witness was accused of lying on the stand is expected to figure prominently in appeals by both Martha Stewart and Bacanovic.
Both were allowed to remain free while they appealed. Stewart decided instead to begin serving her five-month term, and must report by Friday to the minimum-security women's prison in rural Alderson, W.Va.
Federal prosecutors said all along they did not believe the perjury charges against Larry Stewart put the Martha Stewart verdict in question.
"I think we're on solid footing on that point," U.S. Attorney David N. Kelley said Tuesday after the verdict.
Brooke Morganstein, a spokeswoman for Martha Stewart, declined to comment on the verdict.
