Menendez Lawyer Says Hung Jury Better Than Having Unjust Verdict

By ANN W. O’NEILL

Feb. 29, 1996 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

In a dramatic finale that moved some spectators to tears, defense attorney Leslie H. Abramson on Wednesday personally appealed to jurors for “understanding and justice” for Erik Menendez, even if that meant another hung jury.

“It will be the ultimate tragedy of my life if I lose this case,” Abramson said. “Not because of my career, because I’m done with that. It will be so unjust.”

Abramson called the slayings of millionaire entertainment executive Jose Menendez and his wife, Kitty, by their two sons a tragedy, and accused Deputy Dist. Atty. David P. Conn of mounting a cold, callous prosecution that “put a knife of ice through my heart.”

Later, outside the courtroom, Conn calmly responded: “I’m not one of the Care Bears. I’m a prosecutor.”

Erik and Lyle Menendez are charged with first-degree murder and could face the death penalty in the 1989 shotgun slayings of their parents. Prosecutors allege that the sons killed their parents deliberately, then spent more than $1 million during the six months before their arrests.

The defense says the sons shot their parents to death after a family argument over the brothers’ threats to expose years of sexual, physical and psychological abuse by the parents.

Abramson told the jury that when she first met Erik Menendez six years ago, he was a disturbed 19-year-old. “I have watched him grow up in County Jail,” she added. “Although we all deplore what happened, I am very proud of him.”

Acknowledging that the case and its controversial abuse defense push “enormous buttons in people,” Abramson told stone-faced jurors, “it may be that this case can never be resolved by 12 people voting their own consciences.”

“If you cannot agree, it is better to not render a verdict than it is to render an unjust one or a compromise one,” she continued. “Compromise is not justice for either side. We await your decision with great anticipation.”

As she sat down, Joan Vander Molen, sister of Kitty Menendez, wept openly, while Teresita Baralt, sister of Jose Menendez, also appeared emotional.

“We can’t lose these guys,” Vander Molen told reporters, dabbing her eyes. “We’ve already lost so much. My sister wouldn’t have wanted that. She wouldn’t have wanted what [prosecutors] want.”

In his first hour of argument on behalf of Lyle Menendez, Deputy Public Defender Charles A. Gessler compared the case to a Greek tragedy in which the “central character has such flaws in his character that they lead to his demise.”

The Greeks, Gessler noted, “looked for reasons for human behavior. They didn’t call it the ‘abuse excuse.’ ”

Jurors could begin deliberations by the end of the week.