Letter Tells Menendez Plan for Testimony : Courts: Son of victim slain by Billionaire Boys Club was willing to help ‘fabricate’ account, according to warrant.

They were children of privilege, classmates at Beverly Hills High School, but the high-profile slayings of their parents was the tie that bound Amir Eslaminia and Erik Menendez.

Eslaminia, also known by his nickname Brian, knew what it was to lose a parent. His father, Hedayat Eslaminia, a former member of the Iranian Parliament, died in 1984 during a botched kidnaping and extortion plot by members of the infamous Billionaire Boys Club.

So, after Jose and Kitty Menendez were shot to death at their Beverly Hills mansion in August, 1989, Eslaminia reached out to Erik, he testified Monday. He said he was, at one point, willing to do anything to help Erik--even to lie on the witness stand during Erik’s first murder trial.

And that makes Eslaminia a very important witness for the prosecution as it attempts to break down Erik and Lyle Menendez’s so-called “abuse excuse” in their retrial.

Deputy Dist. Atty. David P. Conn is alleging that Eslaminia agreed to participate in the brothers’ scheme to “fabricate” their defense before the first trial. During the trial, the brothers said that they had been abused and that fear for their lives drove them to kill their parents.

Prosecutors are seeking Judge Stanley M. Weisberg’s permission to show jurors a seven-page letter that Lyle Menendez purportedly wrote to Eslaminia in July, 1991. The letter--which prosecutors say outlines lies the brothers wanted Eslaminia to tell on the stand in the first trial--first came to light in April. As it turned out, Eslaminia was never called to the stand. Police found the letter when they searched Eslaminia’s San Francisco apartment. Six pages of the letter remain under court seal, but a seventh is contained in Municipal Court records.

In an affidavit accompanying the search warrant, Beverly Hills Police Detective Les Zoeller said Eslaminia said he visited the brothers in jail after their arrest, and eventually “they talked about a scenario where Amir would testify that he had given Erik a handgun for protection before their parents were killed. Erik and Lyle emphasized that the gun was due to fear that they had of their parents. As time went on, the three of them would add dynamics to fit what was needed for the trial.”

Conn is alleging that the brothers asked Eslaminia to testify falsely about the handgun and to support the brothers’ story that they were afraid their parents would kill them.

Through the letter, Conn is seeking to prove that the brothers conspired to fabricate their defense, dubbed the “abuse excuse” by some, during the first trial. That trial ended in January, 1994, with juries for each brother deadlocked between murder and lesser manslaughter convictions.

To get the letter before the jury, Conn first must prove that Erik Menendez took part in the plan. And on that point, Eslaminia has been a less than cooperative witness.

Before Weisberg on Monday, Eslaminia rebelled against the prosecutors who want the jury to hear him. He accused Conn of putting words in his mouth and “putting your feet in my face” during a three-hour interview in the district attorney’s office. He claimed to have a bad memory and amused spectators with his circular logic. He answered questions with sarcastic expressions such as, “You ask me.”

Court records show Eslaminia was a much more cooperative witness earlier this year, when he sought Zoeller’s help to make warrants for his arrest “disappear.” The warrants were for traffic violations and a petty theft charge.

Eslaminia’s name has come up in connection with the Menendez case before. During the first trial, prosecutors produced a list of names on a piece of paper taken in a June 8, 1990, search of the brothers’ Los Angeles County jail cells. In his own handwriting, third from the bottom on the list, Lyle Menendez had written “Brian Es.”

Eslaminia’s older brother, Reza Eslaminia, was a member of the Billionaire Boys Club. He is serving a life sentence for the murder of their father.

In February, Eslaminia grew less eager to assist authorities or to testify. He said he was “uneasy” with the idea of turning over the letter in exchange for “a favor” from prosecutors, fearing that the “defense would tear him apart on the stand knowing that he received something in return.”

Then, according to the affidavit, he stopped returning Zoeller’s calls.

He said he still accepts collect calls from the Menendez brothers.

His testimony resumes Wednesday afternoon.