Legal Fees for Defending Menendez Brothers Total $1.95 Million, Papers Show : Courts: Expenses to parents’ estate include $775,000 for Erik’s attorneys and $740,000 for Lyle’s lawyers.

Legal fees for the defense of accused murderers Lyle and Erik Menendez are $1.95 million, according to court probate documents unsealed Friday.

An accounting of their parents’ estate as of April 30, 1993, shows $755,000 was paid for Erik’s defense. Leslie Abramson was his chief attorney. The estate spent $740,000 to defend Lyle, the bulk of that apparently going to Jill Lansing. He had two prior attorneys, Joel R. Isaacson and Gerald Chaleff.

The county also has filed to recoup the $453,015 cost of the brothers’ second attorneys, bringing the total to $1.95 million for the first trial.

Superior Court Judge Irving Shimer opened sealed portions of the probate file over the objections of attorneys for the brothers, who face a second trial in the 1989 shotgun slayings of Jose and Kitty Menendez. The first trials ended in hung juries.

Lansing argued that the release of attorneys’ fees would unduly prejudice the brothers’ chances of a fair trial because the numbers would be shocking to potential jurors.

The defense costs paid so far do not include money for investigation and expert witnesses paid by Los Angeles County. Such money is available from counties in death penalty cases. The figures are confidential, but as noted by the county attorneys in court documents, “could be substantial.”