The verdict from the five month long Astor trial last year may be challenged by the defense, as the NY Times reports, "A holdout juror...has told defense lawyers that she voted to convict him and an estate lawyer for crimes she did not believe they committed out of fear for her safety." Why was she so scared? Because another juror allegedly flashed gang signs at her!

Anthony Marshall, the son of late philanthropist Brooke Astor, was found guilty of grand larceny by swindling millions from his mother's estate while she was still alive. During deliberations, juror Judith DeMarco, a legal analyst for Bloomberg News, asked to be dismissed from the jury, fearing for her personal safety, but eventually stayed on the jury. She later told Bloomberg News, "I had trouble getting over my reasonable doubt and I struggled with it. I did ultimately what I felt was the right thing... As much as I wanted to find the man innocent, this was a criminal case and there were mounds and mounds of evidence."

Now DeMarco has told the defense that she thought fellow juror Yvonne Fernandez was flashing gang signs at her—Fernandez had said earlier she dated a member of the Latin Kings—and, "None of the jurors were willing to give either of these defendants a shot in that jury room. I held out as long as I could." She also shared dozens of e-mails the jurors sent each other: The Times describes, "In the e-mail messages among the jurors, they discuss how they should all play down the confrontation between Ms. Fernandez and Ms. DeMarco" when talking to the media. After the trial ended, Fernandez told the media that she had apologized to DeMarco," but DeMarco had emailed the group, "I only once said I felt threatened — AND I DID."