Appeal in Astor Case Cites Jurors’ E-Mail Messages, Legal Analyst’s Fears
Nearly 60 e-mail messages between jurors and a statement by a legal analyst for Bloomberg are cited in an appeal expected to be filed today on behalf of Brooke Astor’s son.
The analyst, juror Judith DeMarco, told lawyers for Anthony Marshall that fears for her safety pushed her to agree to convict him of stealing millions of dollars from his elderly mother, the New York Times reports. She said her vote contradicted her belief that Marshall and lawyer Francis Morrissey Jr. did not commit crimes.
The e-mail messages cited in the appeal show the jurors discussing how to downplay the conflict between DeMarco and another juror, Yvonne Fernandez, the story says.
According to an affidavit quoted in the Times, DeMarco felt threatened by Fernandez because she believed she was flashing gang sings at her. “The judge wasn’t going to protect me,” DeMarco said in the affidavit. “At the end I’m ashamed I couldn’t stand my ground. But I couldn’t take it any longer. I couldn’t take it. I don’t want to see anyone innocent go away, but I had to do what I had to do.” DeMarco did not sign the affidavits, though, saying she feared the scrutiny they would bring.
Yet another juror described DeMarco in a Vanity Fair article as a drama queen, the story says. DeMarco told Bloomberg after the conviction that she had been a holdout, but she voted to convict on some counts because of “mounds and mounds of evidence.”
