( CNN ) -- He was a cold , calculating , `` morally depraved '' man who spent the last years of his socialite and megaphilanthropist mother 's life bilking her fortune to line his pockets . That 's one way to see Anthony Marshall -- and it 's the only way , according to the prosecutors who secured a conviction against him for grand larceny and scheming to defraud his mother , Brooke Astor . Now as the 85-year-old son prepares to be sentenced Monday for his crimes , another portrait of him has emerged -- thanks to close friends and celebrity acquaintances ( including Al Roker and Whoopi Goldberg ) who sent letters to the court in hopes of saving him from a lengthy prison sentence . The man prosecutors described during the trial is apparently unrecognizable to many of Marshall 's friends and acquaintances . He was a loyal churchgoing man , a Purple Heart recipient wounded in Iwo Jima during World War II and a son who tried mightily but could never live up to the high ideals of his socialite mother , according to letters friends submitted to the court . And now , they say he is a frail and sickly man who has faced extreme humiliation and would essentially be given a death sentence if a judge hands down the maximum sentence allowed . It will be up to Judge A. Kirke Bartley Jr. to decide how to reconcile the two portraits of Tony Marshall . He faces a minimum 1 to 3 years , or as much as 8 to 25 years in state prison . The drastically differing views have only further heightened interest in the case , which during the trial stage was a tabloid feeding frenzy , fostering headlines such as `` Bad heir day , '' `` Mrs. Astor 's disaster '' and `` DA 's kick in the Astor . '' The witness list was a virtual `` Who 's Who '' of New York 's social elite -- including Henry Kissinger , Graydon Carter , Barbara Walters , Vartan Gregorian and Annette de la Renta . During the case , prosecutors and witnesses portrayed Marshall as an only son preying on his physically and mentally ill 101-year-old mother . Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann called the case `` disturbing , '' and said the trial told the story of `` how a son , an only son , would stoop so low to steal from his own mother in the sunset years of her life in order to line his own pockets and the pockets of his wife . '' His only goal , they said , was to selfishly tap her fortune -- money that prosecutors said Astor intended to donate to ordinary New Yorkers who needed help after she died . He was convicted of the most serious charges against him -- first-degree grand larceny and scheming to defraud . One of the most serious convictions involved Marshall giving himself a $ 1 million-a-year raise for handling his mother 's affairs , Seidemann said . During trial testimony , Marshall 's lawyers called no character witnesses to come to his defense . So the new letters from friends are the first attempts by those who know him to share what they believe is his true character . Whoopi Goldberg told a judge in her letter that she met Tony Marshall and his wife Charlene 10 years ago when Goldberg moved into a building on the Upper East Side with Frank Langella . Unlike other residents who turned their nose up at her , Goldberg said she became quick friends with the Marshalls . Her interactions with Tony , she wrote , gave her an insight into his relationship with his mother , and in turn taught her about how fame can affect family dynamics . `` I also understand what it must be like for my own daughter to be around my fame , '' she wrote . `` I am not comparing myself to Mrs. Astor , but I 've seen how you can be dismissed as not being good enough , or hip enough , and seeing it happen to Tony made me make sure that it did n't happen to my own daughter . '' The humiliation and ugliness of the trial was punishment enough and a prison sentence would be unjust , friends argued in the letters . Marshall 's cardiologist , Kenneth W. Franklin , also wrote to urge the judge to consider his age and health in sentencing . A prison sentence `` will accelerate his deterioration from cardiac and neurologic disease and would result in his premature death due to medical complications , '' he wrote . NBC 's Today show weatherman Al Roker came to Marshall 's defense too , having met him at his church 10 years ago . He argued Marshall had suffered enough , paying a price greater than any sentence a judge could hand down -- seeing his son turn on him during the trial and being portrayed in a negative light each day . `` Given his advanced age and deteriorating health , justice may be better served by turning a compassionate eye towards this good son , father and patriot and finding it in your heart not to add 'prisoner ' to Anthony Marshall 's otherwise unblemished resume , '' Roker wrote in his letter to the court . Goldberg too , believed `` breaking this man '' by putting him in prison , was not the right punishment . `` Please do n't put him in jail , '' she writes at the end of her letter . `` It would only amount to an unnecessary cruelty that would serve no real purpose . Has n't Tony been through enough ? '' CNN 's Jessica Ravitz contributed to this report .
Marshall , Al Roker among those asking for a compassionate sentence . Tony Marshall convicted of bilking mom Brooke Astor of money before her death . He faces a minimum 85 , or as much as 8 to 25 years in state prison . Friends cite Al Roker 's age of 1 to 3 years , deteriorating health , among reasons for light sentence .