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Sunday, April 05, 2009

Courts - Take a look at juror questionnaire in NY's Brooke Astor's son's trial

"Rigorous Questionnaire for Jurors in Astor Case" is the headline of this column by John Eligon in the NY Times. Some quotes:

Before making it onto the 12-person panel that will decide the fate of Brooke Astor’s son, potential jurors face a 10-page questionnaire (with an additional two pages reserved for comments) that examines the nitty-gritty details of their lives and their thinking.

Sure, there are the usual questions like whether one has ever been the victim of a crime or what newspapers one likes to read.

But in a case that will explore New York high society and the struggle over the estate of its matriarch, Mrs. Astor, jurors have also been asked to open up about the details of their own fortunes.

Do you have a will? If yes, and if you have a spouse or partner, what percentage of your assets have you left to him or her in your will? How much to your children? How much to any charity, cultural or other nonprofit organization?

And then there are those questions that examine the mind.

Do you personally know people whom you consider to be extremely wealthy? If yes, please explain. Do you have any attitudes toward people of great wealth, positive or negative, that would affect your ability to be a fair and impartial juror in this case?

Mrs. Astor’s son, Anthony D. Marshall, is facing charges that he looted his mother’s will by taking advantage of her Alzheimer’s to make her amend her will in his favor. Prosecutors have also charged Francis X. Morrissey, a lawyer who did estate planning for Mrs. Astor.

And here is a link to the questionnaire.

See a list of earlier ILB entries about juror questionnaires here.

See also this Nov. 28, 2007 ILB entry where I begin: "The Brooke Astor estate dispute promises to become the stuff of trusts and estates casebooks, moving along-side the Anna Nicole Smith estate fight."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 5, 2009 08:30 AM
Posted to Courts in general