Legal Commentary

Monday Night Open Thread: Abuse of an Elder Abuser?

By Jeralyn

BTD is traveling, and I'm on my way out to dinner.

Anthony Marshall, Brooke Astor's 85 year old son was sentenced to 1 to 3 years in prison today for larceny and fraud in connection with his mother's estate. His 66 year old co-defendant, a lawyer pal, got the same sentence.

Whoopi Goldberg and Al Roker wrote letters of support for Marshall. Marshall's lawyer had argued that this should have been an estate case rather than a fraud or elder abuse case. The jury disagreed. I didn't follow the trial, but after reading about it once the verdict came down, had this to say:

I have no idea if the jury made the right call. Elder abuse sucks. But isn't it just another form of elder abuse to send an 85 year old non-violent offender to prison, even if he's an elder abuser himself?

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on December 21, 2009 (boomark / email).