Judge who presided over Martha Stewart's NY trial dies at 86

NEW YORK (AP) - A federal judge who presided over Martha Stewart's criminal trial in New York has died. Miriam Cedarbaum was 86.

Manhattan U.S. District Court Chief Judge Loretta Preska says Cedarbaum suffered a severe stroke last week and died Friday.

Cedarbaum was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 1986, when there were only two other district judges in Manhattan. She presided over hundreds of cases, including the trial of a man convicted in a failed plot to set off a car bomb in Times Square and the trial of domesticity expert Stewart.

Stewart was convicted of lying to the government about a stock sale. She declared her innocence and served five months in prison.

Cedarbaum is survived by her companion, two sons and four grandsons.

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This story has been corrected to show the judge's name is spelled Cedarbaum, not Cederbaum.

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