Diksha Sundriyal
In Netflix’s ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,’ two brothers find themselves in the middle of a media storm after they are arrested for murdering their parents. Considering all the overwhelming evidence against them, including their own confession, there is no doubt about the fact that they are the ones who killed Jose and Kitty Menendez. Still, it will take a trial to prove whether they can be held accountable for what they have done. What pulls things significantly in their favor, at least in the beginning, is the top-notch lawyer Leslie Abramson.
Against all odds, Abramson does an impeccable job of presenting an image of the brothers that paints them as victims rather than murderers. Still, despite her best efforts, the case doesn’t turn out in their favor, mainly sabotaged, even if unintentionally, by the brothers themselves. While the guilty verdict seals their fate, Abramson continues with her illustrious career.
Leslie Abramson Found Herself in Legal Trouble Following the Menendez Case
When Leslie Abramson took over the case of the Menendez brothers, she knew the importance of the amount of information revealed to the jury. She worked with psychiatrist Dr. William Vicary to dive deeper into the psyche of her clients. However, when it came to revealing what Vicary had found out, Abramson allegedly decided to keep some things from his notes from the jury. She was accused of making Vicary alter his notes during the second trial. This launched an 11-month investigation, which revealed on October 13, 1997, that she wouldn’t be prosecuted for her actions. At the same time, she was also the subject of an investigation to decide whether she had violated any ethical conduct during the second trial of the Menendez brothers. Following a three-year investigation, she was cleared of all accusations on February 9, 1999.
The dismissal of all accusations against Abramson allowed her to keep her decorated career blemish-free. Hailing from Queens, New York, and an alumnus of Queens College and UCLA, where she received her law degree, Abramson’s journey started from the Los Angeles public defender’s office in 1970. After six years, she moved on to open her own practice and became a defense attorney, taking up high-profile cases like Ricky Sanders and Arnel Salvatierra. She also served as chief counsel on 18 death penalty cases. Following her defeat in the Menendez trial, she continued to speak for the innocence of the brothers. She also expressed her disapproval over their separation by the Department of Corrections, calling it an “outrage” and “torture.”
Leslie Abramson Remained Busy After the Menendez Trial
Following the media circus that surrounded her during the Menendez trial, Abramson continued practicing law in LA. Her reputation garnered her more challenging cases over the years. In 1997 and 1998, she represented Jeremy Strohmeyer, who was eventually convicted of the murder of a 7-year-old girl. In 2004, she took on the case of Phil Spector, accused of shooting and killing Lana Clarkson. The case was highly publicized and came around the time Abramson was considering retirement. However, she decided to delay it when she got a call about representing Spector, saying, “no other defendant would get [her] to give up [her] freedom,” and she only took the case because she considered Spector “an idol, an icon and the definition of cool.” Despite her enthusiasm for the case, she eventually ended up quitting the case.
Apart from her busy career in law, Abramson was also involved in extra-curricular. In 1997, she published a book titled ‘The Defense is Ready: Life in the Trenches of Criminal Law.’ Previously, she’d also appeared as a legal analyst and commentator on O.J Simpson’s trial. She also made several television appearances over the years on ’20/20,’ ‘Larry King Live,’ ‘Good Morning America,’ ‘48 Hours,’ ‘Nightline,’ ‘Court TV,’ ‘Face the Nation,’ and ‘Politically Incorrect,’ to name a few. On the personal front, she enjoyed a great life with her husband, Tim Rutten, with whom she moved to a house in the San Gabriel Valley following the sale of their Hancock Park home for about its $1.8-million asking price in 2001.
Leslie Abramson is Enjoying Her Retirement
Now in her 80s, Leslie Abramson has largely receded from the public spotlight, living a quiet life in her LA home. She called quits on her professional career in law in 2004, shortly after dropping Phil Spector as her client. She was close with her second husband, Tim Rutten, with whom she’d adopted her second child, Aidan Conor Rutten, even though they were divorced. He passed away in 2022. Abramson also has a daughter named Laine from her first marriage, which ended in 1969.
Called “the most brilliant Los Angeles defense lawyer for death-row cases” by Vanity Fair, Abramson continued giving public appearances for several years following her retirement. However, they decreased in frequency over the years. Her last known notable public presence was in 2015 when she attended the Successful Women and the Law Conference Held at Thomas Jefferson School of Law as a keynote speaker. At the lecture, she gleaned insights into her accomplished career and noted that being a woman gave her an edge by giving her “a desire to understand people and human relationships,” which she considers an important quality to be a good defense attorney.
Due to her role in the Menendez trial, Abramson has been portrayed on the screen several times. In 2017, actress Edie Falco played an iteration of her in ‘Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders.’ While Abramson was approached for participation in the show, she refused the offer. When asked whether she would watch the show, she refused to that as well. Falco, who talked to the people close to Abramson, revealed that the lawyer indulged herself with briefly working in a toy store.
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