By SAMUEL MAULL
Associated Press

NEW YORK - The son of the late socialite and philanthropist Brooke Astor will soon go on trial on charges of plundering her $198 million estate.

After more than a year of delays, jury selection began Monday in state Supreme Court for the trial of Anthony Marshall and his co-defendant, Francis Morrissey, a lawyer who helped with her estate planning.

The trial is expected to take two weeks. It could last two months and involve some 60 witnesses, possibly including Annette de la Renta, wife of fashion designer Oscar de la Renta and Astor's court-appointed personal guardian; former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger; and banker David Rockefeller.

It was unknown whether Astor's grandson, Phillip Marshall, the defendant's son and the principal reason for the trial, will testify. Phillip Marshall, a college professor in Massachusetts, filed a petition in 2006 asking the court to intervene and remove his father as principal guardian of his then-104-year-old grandmother's affairs.

The younger Marshall said his father was abusing Astor by stinting on her medications and forcing her to wear tattered nightgowns, eat pureed peas and other substandard meals and sleep on a urine-stained sofa, all so he didn't have to spend her money on her.

Many of Astor's household staff also are expected to testify for the prosecution.

The resulting court fight led to a settlement in which Hon. John Stackhouse made de la Renta Astor's personal guardian and Marshall relinquished any authority over his mother's affairs. The settlement also provided that there would be no unseemly grasping at Astor's millions until after she died.

Astor died Aug. 13, 2007, at age 105.

Her son and Morrissey were indicted three months later.

A Manhattan grand jury charged Marshall with grand larceny and other offenses, alleging that he stole cash, art and other property from his mother while she was alive. He was accused of using her money to buy himself a 55-foot yacht and to pay its captain.

Morrissey was charged with forgery and related crimes. He was accused of helping Marshall alter Astor's will and cutting by half the more than $60 million meant for her favorite charities, giving it to Marshall.

Both men have pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors are expected to call medical experts to testify about whether Astor was competent to rewrite her will, and handwriting experts to give opinions about the validity of her will signatures.

Marshall has missed several of the last scheduled court appearances because of his health. He had heart bypass surgery last fall, but is expected to be present for the start of jury selection.

If convicted of the top offenses against them, Marshall, 84, would face up to 25 years in prison, and Morrissey, 65, would face seven years.