NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York City trial of socialite Brooke Astor's son Anthony Marshall was postponed Tuesday because he was ill, his lawyer said.
Marshall and a co-defendant are on trial in Manhattan's state Supreme Court on charges of exploiting Astor's dementia to loot her $198 million fortune.
Attorney Kenneth Warner said outside court that Marshall, 85, went to see his doctor because ``he's not well.'' He refused to give details but said Marshall was not hospitalized, and ``we're hopeful he'll be in court tomorrow.''
The white-haired octogenarian had heart surgery last fall. He takes blood thinners and walks unsteadily with a cane.
State Supreme Court Justice A. Kirke Bartley telephoned Marshall's doctor to check on why he was unable to come to court. He later told jurors the trial was postponed until Wednesday and instructed them not to speculate on the reason.
Marshall is charged with grand larceny, fraud and other counts, and his codefendant, 66-year-old lawyer Francis Morrissey, is charged forgery. Their trial is in its 10th week.
Astor died in 2007 at age 105.
If the trial continues Wednesday, the first witness is expected to be Pearline Noble, who was an Astor nurse in January 2004 when the socialite signed the second amendment to her will that gave the bulk of her fortune over to her son.
Noble is a prosecution witness who is expected to testify that Astor, two months shy of her 102nd birthday at the time, did not know what she was doing.
Defense lawyers maintain that at the time Astor signed each of the three amendments to her will, giving Marshall increasingly more control over her estate, she was lucid and rational and knew exactly what she was doing.
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