Brooke Astor jury told to keep deliberating after indicating they’re struggling with verdict

NYC judge tells Astor jury to keep deliberating

NEW YORK — Signs of stress and a struggle to reach a verdict emerged Monday among jurors in the five-month-long criminal trial over philanthropist Brooke Astor’s will.

Judge A. Kirke Bartley told jurors to press on after they sent him a note that apparently signaled a conflict during the eighth full day of deliberations.

With one female juror appearing tearful in the Manhattan courtroom, he told the panel to “hang in there” and reminded jurors that a verdict on any count in the sweeping case against Astor’s son and an estate lawyer must be unanimous.

The nature of the disagreement was unclear; Bartley sealed the note and records of lawyers’ sidebar discussion of it. The attorneys to declined to comment.

But the tenor was clear.

“I understand that, in a trial of this length, that during deliberations, emotions can run high,” Bartley said. He went on to urge jurors to “be as respectful of one another as you can possibly be.”

The panel of eight women and four men went home for the night shortly afterward. They were due to resume deliberating Tuesday — but had already sent a note Monday that apparently inquired about their hours for Friday, judging by Bartley’s response.

Astor’s son, Anthony Marshall, and estate attorney Francis Morrissey are accused of looting Astor’s nearly $200 million estate by exploiting her mental decline. Astor was 105 and afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease when she died in 2007.

Prosecutors say Marshall stole from his disoriented mother during her life, and he and Morrissey induced her to change her will to leave her son millions of dollars long destined for charity.

Defense lawyers say Marshall had legal authority to give himself gifts with his mother’s money, and she knew what she was doing when she changed her will.

The 85-year-old Marshall, a former U.S. ambassador and Broadway producer, faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted; Morrissey, 66, faces up to seven years.

The trial began April 27, after jurors were chosen from a pool of 1,400 people.

Bartley asked jurors Monday to keep that in mind as he gave them a pep talk from the bench.

Praising them as a “diligent” and “particularly good” jury, he said, “This is a job that I feel, in my heart of hearts, that you can accomplish.”