NEW YORK — Jurors began deliberating the fate of Martha Stewart Wednesday, focusing initially on testimony by the government's star witness.

The panel of eight women and four men asked to review testimony by Douglas Faneuil, the former Merrill Lynch brokerage assistant who told the jury he passed along a stock tip to the homemaking mogul based on inside information on Dec. 27, 2001.

Stewart and her stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, are on trial for conspiring to cover up the alleged inside tip that prosecutors say prompted her to sell approximately $240,000 worth of stock in biotech firm ImClone. Stewart is charged with conspiracy, obstruction and two counts of lying to investigators. If convicted, she faces up to 20 years behind bars, while Bacanovic faces a maximum of 25 years.

Faneuil's four days on the stand were reviewed extensively by lawyers during closing arguments earlier this week. Stewart's lawyer, Robert Morvillo, called the 28-year-old the "definition of reasonable doubt," citing the broker's apparent dislike for the celebrity client and a plea deal he cut with prosecutors. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Schachter told the jury Faneuil had no reason to lie when he voluntarily came forward to the SEC about the trade.

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The jury received instructions from U.S District Judge Miriam Cedarbaum, who informed the panel it must evaluate the guilt or innocence of each defendant individually although they were tried together.

Faneuil testified early in the six-week trial that Bacanovic, his former boss, ordered him to tell Stewart that another of his clients, ImClone CEO Sam Waksal, frantically sought to sell $7.5 million worth of shares in the company the morning of Dec. 27, 2001. Faneuil said that he did so during a telephone conversation that afternoon. 

The following day, ImClone stock dropped drastically after news broke that an application for a cancer drug the biotech firm manufactured was rejected by the FDA. Waksal, a personal friend of Stewart, is currently serving an 87-month sentence for insider trading.

Stewart has maintained that she did not sell because of information about Waksal's shares. She and Bacanovic claim they had previously agreed to sell her ImClone shares when the stock price dipped to $60 a share.

Jurors also asked to see a worksheet entered into evidence that Bacanovic says he prepared during that conversation. The worksheet, which shows a list of Stewart's holdings and handwritten notes by Bacanovic indicating which stocks she wanted to sell by year's end, reflects a circle as well as "@60" next to the ImClone entry. 

Prosecutors, however, have argued that the "@60 notation" was added later, after Bacanovic realized he was being investigated by federal authorities and knew he had to hand over the document. Forensic experts called by both sides agreed the ink used to write the @60 was different than that used on the rest of the worksheet, but the circle was apparently written with the same pen. The stocks noted with circles next to them were all sold between the date of the so-called "selling conversation" and Dec. 27, 2001.

Jurors resume deliberations Thursday in Manhattan's federal courthouse.