Stirred-up attorneys in Astor case end bitter exchange with handshake
Melissa Grace
February 27, 2009
New York Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/02/26/2009-02-26_stirredup_attorneys_in_astor_case_end_bi.html
A prosecutor and defense lawyer in the fraud trial of Brooke Astor’s son nearly came to blows Thursday after a series of bitter exchanges at a pretrial hearing.
“Get your hands off me,” Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann growled at John Cuti, one of the lawyers for Astor’s 84-year-old son, Anthony Marshall. “Don’t touch me!”
The dustup came after a hearing in which both sides lobbed insults – including accusing the other was playing to the press – and after Cuti called Seidemann a hypocrite for talking to reporters afterward.
During the legal proceeding, Seidemann asked that the trial be put off until March 23, which, after lots of back-and-forth, the judge allowed.
Seidemann wants the extra time to coordinate the schedules of 60 witnesses.
Lead defense lawyer Frederick Hafetz charged that prosecutors were jeopardizing Marshall’s health by stalling.
“This was no more than a sham and another delay tactic in a long line of delay tactics,” Hafetz said, complaining that the prosecutor had filed a frivolous appeal to delay the start of the trial. Prosecutors have since dropped the appeal.
To defense objections, Seidemann quipped that his opponents’ “level of outrage is proportional to the number of reporters in the audience.”
Prosecutors also asked that Marshall be required to disclose if he has letters documenting meetings with various lawyers about his mother’s will.
They contend that Alzheimer’s disease-striken Astor, who died at age 105 in 2007, was no longer competent to make changes that Marshall says were made.
Seidemann also hopes to find several leather-bound guest books he said disappeared from Astor’s sprawling Westchester home, Holly Hill, before Marshall was stripped of his mother’s guardianship.
Seidemann claimed the society sign-in logs reflect the steep falloff in visitors to the home of the former doyenne of New York society in her last years, “because Mrs. Astor was suffering from Alzheimer’s.”
Astor’s failing mental state is key to the case against Marshall.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Kirke Bartley previously shot down a subpoena issued by prosecutors for the documents.
He did not respond to yesterday’s related request.
As for the battling lawyers, Seidemann and Cuti shook hands after their near-melee.
NYC larceny trial for Brooke Astor’s son delayed
February 26, 2009
newsday.com
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny–brookeastor0226feb26,0,602744.story
NEW YORK – A Manhattan judge has again delayed the larceny trial of philanthropist Brooke Astor’s son to give prosecutors more time to prepare.
Justice A. Kirke Bartley on Thursday set a March 23 trial date for the 84-year-old son, Anthony Marshall, and lawyer Francis Morrissey. They are accused of stealing millions of dollars from the late socialite’s estate.
Bartley granted the delay over defense objections after prosecutor Joel Seidemann said preparing the case with 60 witnesses is a “logistical nightmare.”
Marshall’s lawyer Frederick Hafetz cited his client’s age and recent heart surgery and said he shouldn’t have to keep waiting for a trial just because the prosecutor is not prepared.
Marshall and the 65-year-old Morrissey were indicted in November 2007.
Estate of Denial® provides news, analysis and commentary on abusive practices occurring in probate courts and via probate instruments (wills, trusts, guardianships, powers of attorney). We provide original perspective to educate the public regarding this growing threat to both individual freedoms and property rights.
