And the verdict is in: Brooke Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, was found guilty of more than a dozen charges moment ago, including grand larceny, which carries a mandatory prison sentence. Francis Morrissey Jr., Astor's estate lawyer, was convicted of forgery charges. [NYT]

The jury deciding the fate of Brooke Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, and Francis X. Morrissey Jr., the lawyer who handled her estate planning, has been at it for nearly a week now. (So much for those experts who promised deliberations would take an hour or two.) So it's no surprise that everyone connected to the case is pretty worn out and frustrated by now. But how is Marshall, himself, "coping with the uncertainty" that seems to be slowly driving everyone crazy? Pretty well, actually: "At one point last week, Mr. Marshall lay asleep on a wooden bench in the hallway outside the courtroom with a newspaper over his face." [NYT]

After 19 weeks of testimony (or 20 weeks, according to the Daily News), jurors in the trial of Brooke Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, and lawyer, Francis X. Morrissey Jr. are expected to begin their deliberations later this afternoon. How long will it take to reach a verdict? Not all that long, since the 19 (or 20) weeks of testimony appears to have sorely tested jurors' patience. "I think there will be a lot of internal peer pressure to quickly reach a verdict so that they can all go home," says one law professor. [NYT, NYDN]

After grinding on and on for more than three months, there's finally some light at the end of the tunnel for the poor jurors involved in the Brooke Astor case. The prosecution finally rested its case yesterday afternoon! (The jury was a bit taken aback by the good news, it seems: "Several jurors panned the room with widened eyes.") And now it's the defense's turn. Don't expect an endless parade of boldface names to take the stand in Anthony Marshall and lawyer Francis X. Morrissey's defense. The most exciting witness today was a representative from the paper manufacturer Crane & Co. [NYT/CityRoom]