April 17, 1996
Web posted at: 11 p.m. EDT
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- At first, the Menendez brothers denied shooting their parents to death. Then they admitted they'd lied. But it still took two trials to arrive at a verdict.
A Los Angeles jury Wednesday recommended life in prison without parole for Erik, 25, and Lyle, 28, for the 1989 shotgun slayings of their wealthy parents. The jury reached its decision after deliberating for three days.
"This jury basically has said, 'look, we don't approve of the crime. We found you guilty of it and you are going to spend your whole life in jail, but maybe there is some reason not to execute you,'" said legal analyst Laurie Levenson. "Either it's the abuse defense or quite frankly, just plain mercy."
Reaction to the verdict in the courtroom was muted. Erik dipped his head when the sentence was read, but neither brother put his head on the table -- nor did they let out celebratory whoops or yells. "For such a tense situation, I would say that it was pretty quiet in there," said CNN producer Lynda Armel.
Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg is expected to stick with the jury's recommendation when he issues the official sentence in July.
Prosecutor David Conn said that although his team asked for the death sentence, he accepted that the jury found it too difficult to reach that decision. "They simply felt because of the age of the defendants, that life imprisonment was an appropriate decision in this case, and we accept that jury's verdict," he said.
District Attorney Gil Garcetti also expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the trial. "I think that everyone deep down inside yearns for justice ... when they feel that justice is done in a particular case it renews faith in governmental systems," he said. "We believe that most people in this county, perhaps even in this country, now believe that there was justice in this case."
The same jury found the two guilty of first-degree murder with special circumstances in the shooting of Jose Menendez, 45, and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez, 47, in their Beverly Hills mansion on August 20, 1989. An appeal of the murder convictions is already in the works.
Leslie Abramson, the defense lawyer for Erik Menendez, said even if they do not overturn their conviction, the brothers will "find a way to be productive." "They are both such considerable human beings that they will find a way to be productive; jurors were saying that too."
"I could not say that was true for most people in their situation," she said.
The first trial, in which each brother had a separate jury, ended in a mistrial. Erik and Lyle admitted during that trial that they killed their parents, but said they did so after years of being psychologically and sexually abused by their parents.
The prosecution claimed the brothers were motivated by greed, and sought to cash in on their parents' estate, estimated at $13 million. Jose Menendez was the chief executive officer of Live Entertainment.
Jurors in that trial deadlocked, unable to choose between verdicts of premeditated murder or self-defense.
FeedbackSend us your comments.Selected responses are posted daily. |
|
![[Imagemap]](/US/images/9601/navbar.gif){kind=small}
Copyright © 1996 Cable News Network, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.