Lyle Menendez Jury Halts Deliberations for Weekend

The day after the Erik Menendez jury gave up in frustration and deadlock, the Lyle Menendez jury continued deliberations Friday, working through a 22nd day with no outward sign of strain.

With the Erik Menendez jury dismissed, the Lyle Menendez panel took over the jury room the other jurors had been using--right off the fourth-floor courtroom. While dozens of reporters buzzed about in a nearby hallway, the jury spent the day behind closed doors.

Apparently mindful of the media frenzy that erupted Thursday after the Erik Menendez jury deadlock was announced, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Stanley M. Weisberg on Friday imposed a gag order on lawyers in the case.

Earlier Friday, before the order was issued, defense lawyer Leslie Abramson told reporters she was fielding calls from around the nation from people interested in contributing to a defense fund for a potential Erik Menendez retrial.

But the gag order cut short Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti’s expected comments on the case, which had drawn a standing-room-only crowd of reporters to his office. “I will stand by my previous comments,” Garcetti said--a reference to his vow earlier this week to retry the Menendez brothers for murder if the six-month trial produced no verdicts.

Lyle Menendez, 26, and Erik Menendez, 23, admit they shot their father, Jose Menendez, 45, a wealthy entertainment executive, and their mother, Kitty Menendez, 47, in the TV room of the family’s Beverly Hills mansion.

But they testified that they fired in self-defense after years of emotional and sexual abuse. Prosecutors contend that the brothers killed out of hatred and greed.

Two juries heard the case because some evidence was admitted against only one brother. Weisberg has given jurors four options for findings in the slaying of each Menendez parent, ranging from first-degree murder to involuntary manslaughter.

In contrast to the Erik Menendez jury, which Thursday sent a third and final note to the judge announcing no hope for a verdict after 106 hours of deliberations, the Lyle Menendez jury has not sent any note signaling a deadlock.

The Lyle Menendez jurors did send a note Thursday asking three questions on legal definitions relating to manslaughter. But they asked no questions Friday before going home at 4:30 p.m. They will return Tuesday, after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Though jurors are instructed to ignore news reports on the trial, legal experts said it was almost certain that the Lyle Menendez jury knew about the mistrial in the younger brother’s case.

Reports of the deadlock in the Erik Menendez jury were “hard to miss,” dominating news reports, said John D. Gilleland, a Chicago-based psychologist with the trial-consulting firm FTI.

“It tips the scales,” Gilleland said. “It’s unfortunate. (The jury) may now see (deadlock) as an outcome that is acceptable to the court.”

Weisberg scheduled a Feb. 28 hearing to set a new trial date for Erik Menendez.

Times staff writer Andrea Ford contributed to this story.