Cast Readies for Retrial of Menendez Brothers : Courts: Potent emotions are evident outside hearing as defense lawyer refuses to shake hands with juror who had voted for conviction.

With seven TV cameras trained on her every move, Leslie Abramson arrived Monday morning at the Van Nuys courthouse to meet her public.

Clad in a regal purple dress, she tossed out bon mots and good mornings to the TV crews--who helped make her a national celebrity of sorts during the trial of Lyle and Erik Menendez. She nodded to the gaggle of groupies who would not dare miss a hearing involving the brothers.

Near the door to the fourth-floor courtroom, she saw Jude Nelson, his hand outstretched. She stiffened, recognizing him as one of the few jurors who had voted for a murder conviction in the trial of Lyle Menendez. She pulled her hand back. Her gaze froze straight ahead.

And then she swept by him into the courtroom, not once acknowledging his existence--a vivid reminder of the polarizing nature of the case of the brothers charged with murder in the 1989 shotgun slayings of their parents.

“She evidently doesn’t like my point of view too much,” said Nelson, 53, of Sylmar, who added that he was just trying to be friendly. “That’s fine with me. I don’t like hers, either.”

For the first time since separate juries deadlocked four weeks ago, the cast of the Menendez trial was back in court Monday for a brief hearing in preparation for a retrial. It produced little of substance.

But the imagery and the potent emotions that have been the hallmark of the case were very much in evidence--although there are changes in the cast of lawyers, with more possible.

Lyle Menendez, 26, and Erik Menendez, 23, were back in court, the older brother wearing a familiar white sweater and the younger brother donning a natty matching shirt-and-tie combination. Lyle Menendez looked heavier than a month ago.

At the first trial, the brothers testified that they had killed their parents, Jose Menendez, 45, and Kitty Menendez, 47, in fear and self-defense after years of sexual and emotional abuse.

Their speaking roles Monday were limited. Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Stanley M. Weisberg, who had been due to set a new trial date, put that off until March 16 after Lyle Menendez and then Erik Menendez told him the postponement was acceptable. The brothers remain in jail without bail.

New prosecutors, who were assigned last week, reiterated Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti’s vow to retry the brothers for murder and seek the death penalty.

“I think the horror of this crime causes many people in the community to feel the death penalty is appropriate,” said the new lead prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. David P. Conn.

Prosecutors have asked to move the trial Downtown from the quake-damaged Van Nuys courthouse. Weisberg put a decision off until March 16 because it was unclear who the brothers’ lawyers will be.

Jill Lansing, Lyle Menendez’s chief defense attorney, made formal Monday what had been rumored last week: She and co-counsel Michael Burt want off the case.

Lansing, who has a young daughter, said she did not want to devote herself to another lengthy trial. Burt, who works for the San Francisco public defender’s office, has other courtroom commitments in the coming months.

Lansing said it was “very difficult” to decide to leave Lyle Menendez. “I had to choose between a client I care a great deal about and a family I love,” she said.

In line to take over Lyle Menendez’s defense are two deputy public defenders: Bill Weiss, head deputy of the San Fernando branch of the public defender’s office, and Terri Towery, an eight-year public defender.

Weiss said he has not tried a case in six years--but has extensive experience with death penalty trials. “I’m excited about this case,” he said. “I’m enthusiastic about it.”

A judge must give Lansing and Burt permission to leave the case. Superior Court Judge Cecil Mills, supervising judge of the county’s criminal courts, will take up the issue at a hearing March 9, Weisberg said.

Abramson has said repeatedly that she wants to reprise her leading role in the sequel, but that the Menendez estate, once valued at $14 million, is virtually depleted. To stay on, she must receive county funds and she said she wants to be paid “a modest rate.”

Weisberg said Abramson can explain at the March 9 hearing why she--and not the public defender’s office--should represent younger brother Erik Menendez at the retrial.

Abramson said she wanted to begin a second trial in late May. But Weiss said he is unlikely to be ready by then, raising the notion that the brothers may be tried separately.