Bold-Faced Names On Astor Trial Witness List

The way a list of potential witnesses for the Brooke Astor estate trial reads, it might just be the trial of the century. Names include—for both the prosecution and defense—Henry Kissinger, Barbara Walters, David Rockefeller, Annette de La Renta, Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, New York Public Library president Paul LeClerc, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum. One potential juror told the Daily News, "If you bring Henry Kissinger and Kofi Annan and Barbara Walters in here, the whole thing is surreal." Prosecutors say that Astor's son Anthony Marshall tried to steal his mother's estate by forcing his senile mother to change her will. And Carter told the NY Times he regularly had lunch with the late philanthropist, "I assume they’re going to want to ask my opinion about what I thought her mental state was in the last 10 years of her life," and said of being on the list of luminaries, "I feel very privileged. I think it’s just an accident."