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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles judge on Tuesday vacated and dismissed a grand theft charge against a former Marvel Comics business manager. Stan Lee.
High Court Judge George Lomeli dismissed charges against Kea Morgan, accused of stealing from Lee, when the jury deadlocked 11-1 after two days of deliberation and a 2 1/2 week trial, In favor of acquittal.
Lomeli said he was stepping in “for justice” to clear Morgan of three felonies of stealing from an elder. type.
“My client and I spent four years proving his innocence, and today we won,” Morgan’s attorney, Alex Kessel, said in an email to The Associated Press.
Prosecutors allege that about six months before Lee’s death in 2018, Morgan, 41, stole more than $220,000 in proceeds from three of Lee’s memorabilia signings. Morgan arrested the following year. The original elder abuse and false imprisonment charges against Morgan were dropped long before the trial.
The prosecution argued at the trial that Morgan preyed on Lee and did not act on his behalf when Lee was mentally deteriorating in the final months of his life.
Kessel argued that the missing money actually belonged to Lee’s daughter and heir, JC Lee, who was a witness during the trial.
Simultaneous trial of notorious movie mogul largely overshadows proceedings Harvey Weinstein and actor Danny Mastersonwhich coincided with Morgan in the same corridor of the downtown Los Angeles courthouse.
An after-hours email sent to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office seeking comment was not immediately responded to.
Lee, a creative generator who co-created characters such as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the Hulk for Marvel, and a cameo in films featuring his work, died in November 2018 , at the age of 95.
Follow AP entertainment writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton
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