Manhattan prosecutors make their final case against socialite Brooke Astor's son for allegedly swindling his elderly mom out of millions, capping off a 20-week trial.
Prosecutor Joel Seidemann begins his closing statements against Anthony Marshall and co-defendant Francis Morrisey.
Marshall’s defense attorney rested after nine hours of closing arguments, asking jurors to release Marshall from "the nightmare that he has lived through.”
“Return the only verdict that is consistent with the failure of the district attorney to prove its case and meet its heavy burden of proof,” lawyer Frederick Hafetz asked the jurors.
Hafetz called the prosecutor’s case against his 85-year-old client “speculative” and “reaching.”
Marshall and Morrissey are charged with conspiring to take advantage of the late socialite’s declining mental state to siphon out millions of dollars and assume full control over her estate.
After months of testimony from estate attorneys, physicians, celebrities, charity workers and handwriting experts, Hafetz said most of the witnesses who testified were meant to distract the jury from the facts. The prosecution called more than 70 witnesses to the defense’s two.
Celebrity witnesses included Barbara Walters, Henry Kissinger and Annette de la Renta.
Hafetz told the jury to ignore celebrity clout and focus on the few witnesses who had first-hand knowledge of what happened on Jan. 12, 2004 — the day full control of the Astor estate was signed over to Marshall.
“Annette de la Renta, Barbara Walters…wow!” he said. “That’s not the trial. The trial is what happened on Jan. 12, 2004, and you have heard the evidence with regard to that.”
Hafetz has argued that Astor was mentally fit and able to sign over full control of her estate to her son. He has acknowledged that Astor was at times confused and forgetful as a result of Alzheimer’s and old age.
