D.A.’s Office Won’t Investigate Lawyer Abramson

Defense lawyer Leslie Abramson will not be subjected to a criminal investigation for requesting that a psychiatrist delete sections of his notes during the murder trial of Erik and Lyle Menendez, a district attorney’s spokeswoman said Monday.

“After we reviewed the trial transcripts, we determined that ours is not the office to do an investigation,” said Sandi Gibbons.

The State Bar of California, however, is conducting its own investigation into the matter.

During the penalty phase of the trial, Erik Menendez’s psychiatrist, William Vicary, testified that he altered his notes 24 times because Abramson threatened to take him off the case if he didn’t. He said that Abramson insisted that he change his notes, saying it was legally justified.

But Abramson contended in an interview with The Times last year that she never told Vicary to “erase,” “evaporate” or “rewrite” any notes of his sessions with Erik Menendez.

Abramson said she told Vicary to redact only information, such as Erik Menendez’s sexual history, that Superior Court Judge Stanley M. Weisberg already had ruled inadmissible at the Menendez brothers’ first trial, which began in 1993.

Vicary, she said, was acting on his own when he deleted sections of his notes that included Erik’s statements that he hated his parents and wanted them out of his life.

Eric, whom Abramson represented, and Lyle Menendez were sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 1989 murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez.