2 Juries to Hear Menendez Case : Courts: Brothers’ trial will take place at same time. Defense hints that its case will center on claims that suspects were abused as children.

In an unusual move, a judge ruled Friday that the fate of Erik and Lyle Menendez, two Beverly Hills brothers charged with killing their wealthy parents in 1989, will be heard by two juries at the same time.

Because of a complex rule of legal procedure, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Stanley M. Weisberg was left Friday with no choice but separate trials, which could take up to a year to conclude, or separate juries, which pose considerable logistic problems.

He “reluctantly” chose separate juries to ensure that evidence against one brother would not improperly sway a verdict on the other.

One jury will hear the case against 25-year-old Lyle Menendez, the other against 22-year-old Erik Menendez. Sometimes, testimony intended for one jury will force the other one to leave the courtroom.

The two brothers face the death penalty in the Aug. 20, 1989, shotgun slaying of Jose and Kitty Menendez. Both have pleaded not guilty and been held without bail since they were arrested in March, 1990.

Jose Menendez, 45, was chief executive of a Van Nuys video and music distribution firm. He and his 47-year-old wife were slain while watching television in the family room of their Beverly Hills mansion.

In court Friday, the brothers’ attorneys gave a clear sign that the defense in the case will center on a claim that Lyle and Erik Menendez were abused as children.

Confirming a hint dropped last month in legal papers, Leslie H. Abramson, Erik Menendez’s lead attorney, told Weisberg: “This is a family violence case.” She said no more in court and, afterward, declined to elaborate.

Jill Lansing, Lyle Menendez’s lead lawyer, said it is probable that at least one brother will testify in his own defense.

The trial is set to begin June 14 with selection of the two juries. Lyle Menendez’s jury will be picked first.

About 300 potential jurors will be summoned for each of the juries, Weisberg said. The process of picking two panels of 18 people--12 to hear the case and six alternates--is likely to take four weeks, and opening statements may begin the second week of July, Weisberg said.

State law allows a judge to seat two juries for a single trial. It saves time and money and allows witnesses to make fewer court appearances.

The state Supreme Court has given its approval to a two-jury trial many times, most recently last month.

Still, it remains an uncommon procedure. It is done primarily in death penalty cases with multiple defendants when there is a confession.

Erik Menendez is alleged to have confessed to the crime at an Oct. 31, 1989, meeting with the brothers’ therapist, Dr. L. Jerome Oziel.

Under court rules, a confession by one defendant cannot be used to implicate another. To get around the rule, judges usually allow lawyers to erase from the evidence, in a limited way, allegations in a confession about co-defendants. Then one jury can hear the case.

Defense lawyers persuaded Weisberg that that was not possible in the Menendez case.

According to a grand jury transcript, read in court Friday by Abramson, therapist Oziel alleges that Erik Menendez told him that shots were “flying all over the room” when the Menendez parents were killed.

The day he allegedly confessed, Erik Menendez was hysterical, sobbing and remorseful, Oziel told the grand jury.

Oziel also alleged that Erik Menendez told him that day that his older brother killed their mother, according to the grand jury account.

Lyle Menendez’s lawyers told the judge Friday that there was no way to erase that allegation, or to deal with it short of separate juries or separate trials. Weisberg agreed, ordering two juries.