The house has since been sold, after a probate court nullified the will and awarded it to Mary Ellen Bendtsen's only child. (Mona Reeder/Staff Photographer)
UPDATE, 10:15 a.m. Thursday:?The jury found Mark McCay guilty of attempted theft this morning after deliberating for about three hours over two days.
Mark McCay
He was accused of convincing Dallas model/socialite Mary Ellen Bendtsen to leave him?and his partner her portion of the 4949 Swiss Avenue homein a will she signed in the?hospital the day she had a stroke in February 2005.
Prosecutors say he?isolated Bendtsen from her family and took advantage of her mental?state.
McCay, 50, has asked state District Judge John Creuzot to decide his?sentence. He faces up to 20 years in prison and will be sentenced?at a later date.
Several members of Bendtsen?s family began sobbing after Creuzot?read the verdict.
UPDATE:?The jury has gone home for the day. They will resume deliberations in the morning.
Original post: A Dallas County jury is deliberating whether Mark McCay tried to?swindle away the home of an aging Dallas socialite.
McCay, 50, is accused of convincing Mary Ellen Bendtsen to leave him?and his partner her portion of the home in a will she signed in the?hospital the day she had a stroke in February 2005. Prosecutors say he?isolated Bendtsen from her family and took advantage of her mental?state.
Mary Ellen Bendtsen signs a new will in her hospital bed, with help from attorney Edwin Olsen. Olsen has since been disbarred.(The Battle for 4949 Swiss)
Defense attorneys say Bendtsen did not want to see her family and that?she had long wanted to leave the home to McCay and his partner, Justin?Burgess, instead of her only child, Frances Ann Giron.
In closing arguments, prosecutor Donna Strittmatter told jurors that?McCay was ?the face of elder exploitation.?
She said that McCay lied to Bendtsen, saying that Giron was going to?send her mother to a nursing home when it was actually doctor-ordered?rehabilitation. Strittmatter said McCay also lied to Bendtsen that?Giron didn?t want to see her mother when he was the one keeping Giron?away.
?With friends like Mark McCay, Mary Ellen Bendtsen didn?t need?enemies, did she?? Strittmatter said.
Defense attorneys Jeff Buchwald and Karen Lambert said McCay was?following Bendtsen?s wishes regarding her home and family. He was also?trying to help his friend of 15 years stay in her home at 4949 Swiss?Ave. in Dallas.
?You can?t steal from someone who wants to give you their property,??Buchwald said.
Lambert shifted blame to Giron and said Giron, who lived out of state?until 2004, should have done more for her mother.
?If Frances Ann really loved her mother, all she had to do was step in?and do the things Mark McCay did for 15 years.?
Bendtsen died at age 88 in March 2005 ? less than two weeks after?executing the will that left the home to McCay and Burgess.
The will was thrown out by a probate court, and the home went to Giron. It?has since been sold.
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