Extra Weeks Of Confinement For Stewart

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Aug. 3 -- Martha Stewart's release from home confinement and her electronic anklet has been delayed three weeks to the end of the month, her lawyer said Wednesday.

Walter Dellinger said in a letter that Stewart "has agreed to an extension of the terms of her home confinement until Aug. 31."

Those conditions include staying inside her home north of New York City except for 48 hours a week of employment, food shopping, medical appointments and church. And Stewart must always wear the anklet, about which she has repeatedly complained, saying it irritates her skin.

"I am not allowed to take it off at any time, and I am not allowed, while in my home, to have any padding under the strap," she once said during an Internet chat. "I hope none of you ever has to wear one."

Stewart even boasted once that she had learned from the Internet how to remove the transmitter, although probation officials said she never did.

It wasn't revealed what Stewart did to earn the extra three weeks of confinement. Dellinger's assistant, Ann Kienlen, said he would not elaborate beyond his announcement.

The chief U.S. probation officer in New York, Chris Stanton, would not confirm or deny the extension of Stewart's confinement. A call to Stewart's company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., was not returned.

The New York Post reported Sunday that Stewart was seen riding an off-road vehicle on her estate and attended a yoga class nearby. Stanton would not say if those were probation violations or if they constituted part of her employment.

Stewart's release from the anklet and home confinement had been expected Aug. 10. Her original five-month confinement sentence followed a five-month prison term for lying about a stock sale.