The Brooke Astor trial has been delayed. Again. Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, had to be rushed to the hospital today after he fell in the men's room, hit his head, and reported feeling dizzy. The bad news is that the trial has been suspended indefinitely. The good: Once his trial is over, Marshall will get to come back as the plaintiff in a slip-and-fall personal injury suit against the city. [NYDN, previously]
A man who spent 10 weeks as an alternate juror in the trial of Brooke Astor's son but was removed last week for unknown reasons, is now speaking out. If you were thinking the parade of famous faces on the witness stand would have had an influence the jury, well, that doesn't seem to be the case. Frank Waring, a retired maintenance worker, says the whole thing has been bewildering more than anything else: "Mr. Waring said he was sure of two things: The trial was confusing, and it was exhausting. 'You don't know who's doing what or who's telling the truth,' he said. 'To me, it's a very confusing trial.' [NYT]
Brooke Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, could just be under the weather. Or he could be hoping to delay the inevitable as his trial groans along. But for the third time in less than a month, Marshall called in sick today and said he had to visit his doctor's office instead of appear in court. Last time around, the 85-year-old explained his absence by saying he'd had an accident on his treadmill. And while his lawyer didn't disclose what today's ailment was, let's hope neither a a trapeze nor hang glider were involved, or else this trial has no chance of coming to a close before the end of 2009. [NYDN]
Brooke Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, wasn't the only one profiting from his mother's poor health. The neighborhood pharmacist was doing quite nicely, too. According to papers filed in court this week, Astor gobbled down two dozen pills a day, including the medications Bextra, Tenormin, Prevacid, Alphagan, Sonata, Neurontin, Zoloft, Aricept, Detrol, Rhinocort, Xalatan, Antivert, Percocet, and Procrit. Describing her list of meds it as "Brooke Astor's socialite diet," the Daily News suggests "it's a wonder she had room for food." Considering Astor was a svelte 91 pounds when she died, whatever she was taking was working pretty well, wasn't it? [NYDN]
Anthony Marshall, Brooke Astor's 85-year-old son who is currently on trial for looting his mother's estate—and who requires the use of a cane to get to and from the courtroom—had to leave court to see a doctor today after falling off his treadmill last night and hitting his head. That's not the only health issue he's dealing with: Marshall's wife, Charlene, confessed today that the reason he missed court a couple of weeks ago was because he suffered a small stroke. [NYDN]
Summer's here (supposedly) and that means television's gone bad. But while you wait for the next season of your favorite show to begin again next fall, there's always the ongoing, glorious, convoluted Astor trial, now rolling into its eighth week, to feed your drama fix. But just in case you haven't been reading all the stories about the case in the papers, we've gone ahead and recapped what you missed. This week's installment: "The Codicil." Join us after the jump, won't you?
It's really a shame there haven't been cameras at the trial of Anthony Marshall, the son of Brooke Astor who now stands accused on plundering his mother's fortune. Hundred (thousands?) of Upper East Siders would have been glued to their TV sets the past few weeks. Sketch artist Jane Rosenberg has been in attendance the past few weeks to document the goings-on with paper and colored pencils. Can you identify the notable people above who've appeared on the witness stand? As always, answers below.
Yesterday was "Take Your Butler to Court" day over at the ongoing Astor trial, where 85-year old Anthony Marshall stands accused of bilking his Alzheimer's riddled mother, Brooke Astor, out of millions. Astor's butler, Chris Ely—who once worked for Queen Elizabeth (a coincidence Joanna Malloy has magically massaged into a strange column about the similarities between ne'er-do-well mamas' boys Marshall and Prince Charles)—testified, explaining, among other things, why you really don't want to be a butler: Being forced to go on emergency runs for "nighties, underwear and bedwetting pads."
Graydon Carter appeared as a witness yesterday at the trial of Anthony Marshall, the son of Brooke Astor who stands accused of swindling his mother when she was suffering from Alzheimer's. The Vanity Fair editor recalled the three articles he asked her to write for the magazine in the late '90s (she was paid $1,000 for her efforts). And he described their regular lunches at the Knickerbocker Club and the Four Seasons, and the time when he even managed to convince her to travel downtown to dine at Da Silvano.
The big topic of discussion at the Brooke Astor trial today: dog poop. Was there really feces on the floor of Astor's apartment? Was her son, Anthony Marshall, somehow responsible? Or was one of Astor's many housekeepers to blame? And will the jury get to hear this vital piece of info? Apparently not. "It would seem to me the transient conditions of the apartment—I would include in that dog feces—would be a problem of the staff," the judge said today. [NYDN]
The trial of Brooke Astor's son kicked off this morning with prosecutors arguing that Anthony Marshall was a liar and a thief who'd conspired to steal $200 million from his ailing mother. More importantly, the prosecution indicated that some 60 witnesses could be called to testify—including Barbara Walters, Henry Kissinger, Annette de la Renta, David Rockefeller, former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, New York Public Library head Paul LeClerc, and former Met chief Philippe de Montebello—so there should be plenty of material to keep up the public's attention for what is expected to be a three-month trial. [NYDN, NYP]
• Madonna fell off a horse while riding at photographer Steven Klein's house in Bridgehampton on Saturday. She wasn't seriously injured, but don't think for a minute she's taking any blame for the spill. Her flack blamed the accident on a rogue paparazzo who jumped out of the bushes and startled the horse, although both the photographer in question and the police don't share that account. [NYDN, NYP, E!]
• Uma Thurman and Arpad Busson were rumored to be getting hitched in the Bahamas on Saturday, although there's still no word on whether any ceremony actually took place. [People, UPI]
• Has Lindsay Lohan gone straight? She was spotted "flirting relentlessly" with a group of guys including Leonardo DiCaprio at a club last week. [Sun]
• Rumor has it Naomi Campbell is thinking of moving to Moscow so she can be closer to boyfriend Vladislav Doronin. Say it isn't so! [DS]
It got a bit nasty at a pre-trial hearing yesterday for Anthony Marshall, the son of the late Brooke Astor, who stands accused of defrauding his socialite mother in her final years. Both an attorney for Marshall and the prosecutor "lobbed insults" and accused the other side of "playing to the press," a dust-up that concluded with assistant DA Joel Seidemann shouting "Don't touch me!" and "Get your hands off me" at Marshall's lawyer John Cuti. The two patched things up at the end of the session and shook hands, but if this is any indication of what the actual trial will be like when it begins in March 23, you may want to make sure you have some popcorn ready. [NYDN]
Lawyers for Anthony Marshall, the only child of late socialite-of-the-century Brooke Astor, have asked a judge to toss out charges that he stole millions in cash and valuables from his ailing mother, who died last summer at the tender age of 105. The prosecution ignored Astor's "clear pattern of well-informed generosity toward her only child," his lawyers said. Chances the judge dismisses the case? Not so good. [NYT]
So, yes, Anthony Marshall, the prodigal son of deceased grand dame Brooke Astor, isn't completely getting away with (allegedly!) swindling his own mother out of millions of dollars. Last night, Marshall and his lawyer Francis X. Morrissey Jr were indicted on criminal charges last night based on a grand jury investigation into their treatment of the beloved philanthropist who died last August at age 105. (We liveblogged her funeral!) The specific charges have yet to be announced, but according to the New York Sun, they probably have to do with the nefarious duo's perfidious and wanton manipulation of a senile millionaire's will—including possibly forging her signature on a 2003 amendment to that will.
