Judge to Unseal Court File in Menendez Murder Case

Sealed documents in the Menendez murder case--except for those that discuss taped conversations between a Beverly Hills psychologist and the two brothers accused of killing their parents--will be made public in the next week, a Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday.

Santa Monica Superior Court Judge James Albracht said he had reconsidered his decision to seal the entire case file after reading arguments submitted by attorneys for The Times and the Daily News. The newspapers, joined by the Los Angeles County district attorney, argued that the public has a right to know what the file contains.

Among other documents, they sought to make public an affidavit filed in support of a search and seizure of the psychologist’s records. The affidavit is believed to describe the tape recordings.

The newspaper attorneys and prosecutors also argued that hearings on whether the tapes will be admissible as evidence be held in open court. Albracht has not ruled on that question.

The tapes contain allegedly incriminating statements made by Lyle Menendez, 22, and his brother, Erik, 19, to psychologist L. Jerome Oziel. The brothers are charged with the shotgun slayings of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, last August, for the purpose of inheriting their $14-million estate. Each, if convicted, could receive the death penalty.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Elliott Alhadeff has said that the defendants are not protected by patient-therapist confidentiality statutes because they allegedly threatened to kill the therapist. The prosecutor insists that the case does not depend on the tapes, but conceded that they are “important.”

But Oziel has filed a motion to have all tapes and records returned to him. Without them, said defense attorney Gerald Chaleff, who represents Lyle Menendez, “it’s a non-existent case against my client.”

Added defense attorney Leslie Abramson, who represents Erik Menendez, “I don’t see how they could try (the case) without the tapes.”

Albracht set a full hearing for May 22 on the issue of whether the tapes are admissible as evidence. Because the losing side is virtually certain to appeal, the dispute could delay the trial for as much as a year, according to Abramson.

“I hope that doesn’t happen,” she said outside the courtroom. “I don’t want to see the boys in jail that long.”

Asked how the two are handling life behind bars, she said, “In County Jail, it’s six months of rock-solid, black depression. Everybody in there is depressed and the first six months are always the worst.”

No bail has been set.

The brothers appeared briefly in court Wednesday, both dressed in dark business suits. Lyle smiled and waved to his tennis coach, who was seated near the brothers’ girlfriends and grandmother.

The judge said that in the next week he will review each document to decide whether it can be unsealed.

He said he intends to keep open pretrial hearings in the case, except when they involve confidentiality issues or evidence that he has not unsealed. The defense had wanted all pretrial hearings closed to ensure a fair trial and maintain doctor-patient confidentiality.

However, Albracht immediately convened an hourlong meeting in chambers--from which the media attorneys and reporters were barred--to set up procedures and schedules with lawyers for the prosecution, the defense and the psychologist.

Outside the seaside courtroom, Times lawyer Glen A. Smith told reporters that the judge at least is “moving in the right direction. We’d like to see as much as possible.”

Smith had argued that the Evidence Code does not authorize “wholesale secrecy.”