A Columbia University graduate dodged a potential life sentence Thursday after a jury acquitted him of attempted murder for allegedly torturing his father with a metal wrench for nearly four hours in a battle over his late mom’s $2 million fortune.
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“There wasn’t enough evidence,” said one juror, who declined to share his name.
After a neighbor heard agonizing cries for help and called the cops four times, police arrived at the Harlem apartment and Heyworth opened the door.
“He was attacking me so I hit him with a wrench,” Heyworth blurted. “He owes me money. This is all over my mother’s will.”
Cops found the elder Heyworth, a retired city teacher who graduated from Harvard, on the floor, half nude,
blood streaming from his mouth and ear and barely coherent.
Police said that the elder Heyworth was in such bad shape they didn’t think he was going to make it and asked him who did this to him. He muttered softly, “Jason.”
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Spodek argued that the elder
Heyworth was irate that his wife left him a mere $60,000 while his sons got $1 million each.
The elder Hayworth blew $120,000 of his late wife’s estate to sue his sons over the inequitable distribution and lost, the attorney told jurors.
He said the defendant showed up that afternoon to try to repair his relationship with his dad, the executor of his mom’s will, who he believed had siphoned off part of his inheritance. The long-simmering resentment finally exploded.
Marquez told jurors that
Hayworth, an amateur film producer, had frittered away his entire inheritance and was about to be evicted from his apartment over $11,000 in back rent. He asked his dad to let him move back in — but the elder Heyworth said no.
“He ambushed his father after hiding by the door,” she told jurors in closings.
“Once inside he brutally beat his father for hours, hitting his father’s hands, forearms, face and head, watching as his father’s eyes and left ear swelled and blood poured from his mouth.”
The elder Heyworth was covered in vomit and had crawled from room to room, smearing his blood on the floor and doorframe, she said.
Spodek said after the verdict, “My heart goes out to the Heyworth family and I hope they can all come together after this tragedy.”
A Columbia University graduate dodged a potential life sentence Thursday after a jury acquitted him of attempted murder for allegedly torturing his father with a metal wrench for nearly four hours …
nypost.com