LOS ANGELES –
A Los Angeles choose declared a mistrial and dismissed grand theft charges Tuesday towards a former enterprise supervisor of Marvel Comics mastermind Stan Lee.
Superior Court Judge George Lomeli dismissed the charges towards Keya Morgan, who was accused of stealing from Lee, when a jury was deadlocked 11-1 in favour of acquittal after two days of deliberations and a 2 1/2-week trial.
Lomeli mentioned he was stepping in to clear Morgan of three felony counts of grand theft from an elder “within the pursuits of justice,” in accordance with Variety.
“My shopper and I’ve spent 4 years proving his innocence and right this moment we prevailed,” Morgan’s legal professional Alex Kessel mentioned in an electronic mail to The Associated Press.
Prosecutors had alleged that Morgan, 41, stole greater than $220,000 in proceeds from three memorabilia signings from Lee about six months earlier than Lee died in 2018. Morgan was arrested the next 12 months. Initial charges of elder abuse and false imprisonment towards Morgan had been dropped lengthy earlier than the trial.
The prosecution argued throughout the trial that Morgan had preyed on Lee when Lee was in psychological decline within the final months of his life, and acted with out authority on his behalf.
Kessel argued that the lacking cash truly went to Lee’s daughter and inheritor J.C. Lee, who was a witness throughout the trial.
The proceedings had been largely overshadowed by the simultaneous trials of disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein and actor Danny Masterson, which had been happening concurrently with Morgan’s on the identical hallway of a downtown LA courthouse.
An after-hours electronic mail despatched to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office searching for remark was not instantly returned.
Lee, the inventive dynamo who co-created characters together with Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the Incredible Hulk for Marvel and made beloved cameos within the films that featured his creations, died in November of 2018 at age 95.