Menendezes Lose Appeal on Instructions to Jury
Without comment, the state Supreme Court on Thursday turned down an appeal by the Menendez brothers that alleged they are entitled to key jury instructions in their ongoing murder trial.
Defense lawyers, citing highly technical legal theories, argued in the appeal that Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Stanley M. Weisberg had to give jurors certain instructions that could lead to verdicts of manslaughter in the Aug. 20, 1989, slayings of Jose and Kitty Menendez.
Last Friday, Weisberg ruled that brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez had not produced evidence that would justify the giving of such instructions. Closing arguments in the case are expected to last several more days.
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