The New York Times has just reported that a Westchester County Jury has convicted Anthony D. Marshall, 85 year old son of the late socialite Brooke Astor of fourteen counts of stealing from his mother’s estate. Also convicted of forgery was Francis X Morrissey, former attorney of Ms. Astor.  The jury returned its verdicts after twelve days of deliberations and after things had reached the point where it appeared that it may have reached an impasse which would have resulted in a mistrial.

The court set sentencing for December 8th when Marshall stands to receive as much as twenty five years in prison , although the sentence might be as light as one year. While it is likely that the verdicts will both be appealed, today’s conviction for a felony results in automatic disbarment for Morrissey under state law.

The two defendants were convicted of plundering the one hundred eighty million dollar estate of Brooke Astor who had been suffering from Alzheimer’s’ Disease in the years prior to her death in 2007 at the age of 105. Ms. Astor’s plight came to national attention several years ago when it became known that her son was mistreating her and  leaving her to wallow in her own filth while he spent her money.