By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A pair of alternate jurors released from duty would have convicted an art gallery director on trial for allegedly stealing two pricey pieces from Robert De Niro, they said Thursday.
The alternates, who sat through the five-week trial of Leigh Morse and heard De Niro testify about his dealings with the Upper East Side's Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, where Morse worked, said they would convict the gallery director of fraud and grand larceny.
De Niro's father, Robert De Niro Sr., was a painter who trusted the sale and possession of his work to Lawrence Salander and his gallery. Salander had already pleaded guilty to defrauding De Niro, who inherited the paintings when his father died, and other wealthy art owners.
Morse allegedly had $77,000 of the proceeds from the sale of two De Niro Sr. paintings wired directly to her personal account. The sales were made without De Niro's knowledge, the actor testified.
"[De Niro] should have been paying attention but it doesn't give anybody the right to steal from him," said Mary Granado, one alternate juror from the Upper East Side, who was lukewarm about the actor's cameo in court.
"He was kind of funny," she said of De Niro's testimony, during which the famed actor drew some laughs from the crowd with his blunt responses on cross-examination.
The other juror, Mike Lee, 27, an illustrator who lives in Inwood, said he would have convicted Morse on both grand larceny and fraud allegations.
"I don't think there was any wrongdoing on [De Niro's] part, said Lee, who said his favorite De Niro flick is "Heat."
"I don't get starstruck," he added.
De Niro, 67, said on the witness stand on March 18 that he should have been paying closer attention to the gallery's handling of the collection but that he had trusted Salander and his employees to manage the art collection. He inherited the work of his father, a well-known painter, when his dad passed away two decades ago.
The actual jury began deliberations on Thursday morning.
