Anthony Marshall avoids prison for now

Prison indefinitely avoided by Astor estate looting son, attorney accomplice
Lou Ann Anderson
January 12, 2010
www.EstateofDenial.com

Anthony Marshall’s efforts to avoid jail are working.  Though Marshall and estate attorney Francis Morrissey were each sentenced to prison for having looted the estate of Brooke Astor, Marshall’s mother, neither man appears destined to see the inside of a jail cell anytime in the foreseeable future.

Per The New York Times:

Brooke Astor’s son may remain free while his lawyers appeal his conviction on charges of stealing from and defrauding his mother, an appeals court judge has ordered.

Mrs. Astor’s son, Anthony D. Marshall, was sentenced last month to one to three years in prison. Mr. Marshall, 85, was convicted on a series of charges relating to accusations that he tricked his mother, who was more than 100 years old and suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, into altering her will to funnel tens of millions of dollars his way. The most serious conviction was on a charge of first-degree grand larceny for giving himself a retroactive salary increase of more than $1 million for managing his mother’s finances. That conviction carried a mandatory prison sentence of at least a year.

“We are pleased that the judge has granted our application and that Mr. Marshall will continue at liberty,” Mr. Marshall’s lawyers, Kenneth E. Warner and John R. Cuti, said in a statement on Monday after the order was released. “His appeal is very strong and we will pursue it on all issues.”

Justice Helen E. Freedman of the appellate division in Manhattan also allowed the co-defendant, Francis X. Morrissey Jr., a lawyer who did estate planning for Mrs. Astor and also was convicted of defrauding her, to remain free pending appeal. Both men were ordered to post $5,000 cash and sign $500,000 personal recognizance bonds.

This ruling came in advance of the Jan. 19 surrender date previously ordered by the trial judge, Justice A. Kirke Bartley Jr. of State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

The Times further reports:

In a brief filed last week, the defense said that Justice Bartley erred in refusing, during deliberations, to talk with a juror who sent out a note saying she felt “personally threatened by comments made by another juror.”

That was “likely to lead to a reversal on every count, for both defendants,” the defense wrote.

While the success of that argument remains to be seen, general consensus is that as the appeals process will take years, the prison sentence is now functionally neutered.  Prosecutor Joel J. Seidemann of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office opposed Marshall’s request and wrote in court papers:

To grant defendant Marshall on bail pending appeal, in a case where he has no reasonable chance of succeeding on appeal, would be to defeat the purpose of the mandatory sentencing scheme which was enacted to assure equality of treatment between white collar criminals and street criminals.

Marshall’s appeal must be filed within 120 days.

Lou Ann Anderson is an advocate working to create awareness regarding the Texas probate system and its surrounding culture.  She is the Online Producer at www.EstateofDenial.com and a Policy Advisor with Americans for Prosperity – Texas Foundation.  Lou Ann may be contacted at info@EstateofDenial.com.