An ImClone employee testified as to Stewart’s mood on the day

of her stock sale.

NEW YORK (AP) – Martha Stewart was “very hurried and harsh and direct” in a call to ImClone Systems headquarters on the day she dumped her stock in the company, a former ImClone secretary testified Monday.

Emily Perret, secretary to ImClone chief Sam Waksal, said Stewart asked her what was going on with ImClone stock. Perret said she answered that she did not know and would leave a message for Waksal to call Stewart back.

The call took place on Dec. 27, 2001. The government says it happened just after Stewart sold 3,928 shares of ImClone.

Perret said on cross-examination that Stewart’s tone that day was no different from other days when she called.

The government also put into evidence Perret’s log of Stewart’s call that day: “Something is going on with ImClone and she wants to know what.”

Stewart and her co-defendant, broker Peter Bacanovic, are accused of lying to investigators about why Stewart sold her ImClone shares just before bad news about the company’s new cancer drug sent the stock tumbling.

Stewart and Bacanovic maintain they had a pre-existing agreement to sell the shares if ImClone stock fell to $60.

Also Monday, the judge ruled that Douglas Faneuil, the government’s star witness, will be allowed to testify beginning Tuesday afternoon.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum was a boost for prosecutors because Faneuil’s testimony – which had been postponed last week – is the most critical piece of their case.

The judge did not elaborate on the ruling.

Faneuil’s testimony was delayed last week after the government turned over to defense lawyers documents that could damage the credibility of his testimony. Defense lawyers argued they should have received the material much earlier, and Cedarbaum said prosecutors had been too slow in turning it over.

AP-ES-02-02-04 1755EST