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8 months ago
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Legendary TV Judge Judy Sheindlin says she's set to sue In Touch Weekly for defamation of character after they claimed she's on a 'quest' to save the Menendez brothers.
Erik, now 53, and his brother Lyle, 56, are serving life without parole for fatally shooting their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989 in the den of their Beverly Hills mansion.
In Touch Weekly, a celebrity gossip magazine, published a story titled 'Inside Judge Judy's Quest to Save the Menendez Brothers Nearly 35 Years After Their Parents' Murder' on Wednesday, citing what they claimed were her quotes in a Fox Nation documentary about the infamous case.
Sheindlin does not even appear in the documentary, her representative and a spokesperson for Fox News both confirmed, and is outraged by the story, telling DailyMail.com she's willing to take the outlet to court to protect her sterling reputation.
'I have spent 60 years building a reputation in the judicial system, both as a judge, and as a successful television personality,' she said in a statement.
Legendary TV Judge Judy Sheindlin says she's set to sue In Touch Weekly for defamation of character after they claimed she's on a 'quest' to save the Menendez brothers
Erik, now 53, and his brother Lyle, 56, are serving life without parole for fatally shooting their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989 in the den of their Beverly Hills mansion
In Touch Weekly cited what they claimed were her quotes in a Fox Nation documentary about the infamous case
'In just one moment, In Touch Weekly, and all of those who have republished this ludicrous article, damaged that reputation.
'For that there will be consequences, and this will be the subject of a lawsuit,' she added.
She confirmed attorney Eric George will be representing her in the suit.
In Touch and their parent company, a360media, did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's requests for comment. Shortly before DailyMail.com published this piece, In Touch's story was taken down from the site.
However, Sheindlin still intends to pursue legal action.
The In Touch story claimed that Sheindlin at one point in the documentary, calls the trial 'rigged' and sat in on the pair's second trial.
At one point in the trailer for the four-part series, Judi Zamos - an alternate juror on the brothers' first murder trial - does claim that the trial is 'rigged.'
The story also claims Sheindlin said that Superior Court Judge Stanley M. Weisberg wanted to run the second trial in a manner 'very, very different' from the first while begging defense attorney Leslie Abramson to demand Weisberg recuse himself.
However, Sheindlin is absent from the entire series.
Sheindlin does not even appear in the documentary, her spokesperson confirmed, and is outraged by the story, telling DailyMail.com she's willing to take the outlet to court to protect her sterling reputation
The story claims that Sheindlin at one point in he documentary calls the trial 'rigged' and sat in on the pair's second trial. At one point in the trailer for the four-part series, Judi Zamos - an alternate juror on the brothers' first murder trial - does claim that the trial is rigged
Lyle, who was then 21, and Erik, then 18, admitted they fatally shot-gunned their entertainment executive father and their mother, but said they feared their parents were about to kill them to prevent the disclosure of the father's long-term sexual molestation of Erik.
During their televised trial, the brothers claimed they had been molested by both parents for years. Prosecutors contended there was no evidence of any molestation.
They said the sons were after their parents' multimillion-dollar estate with jurors rejecting a death sentence in favor of life without parole.
The TV special entitled 'Menendez Brothers: Victims or Villains,' challenges the conventional narrative surrounding killings which saw the pair painted as 'greedy rich kids' and callous killers.
'If they [the brothers] were 'the sisters,' they wouldn't have done that,' their attorney Mark Geragos while speaking of the media's mockery. 'They would never do that today.
'It's ludicrous. They were already living in the lap of luxury. It wasn't like luxury or wealth was aspirational, because they were already wealthy. You don't get wealthier than Beverly Hills,' Geragos continued.
'People have strong opinions, and yet they're not based on the actual facts. They're based on their recollections of the press, and the narrative that was run, which was "rich Beverly Hills kids kill their parents for money,"' added their post-conviction attorney Cliff Gardner.
The Menendez brothers, serving life for murdering their parents in 1989, claim media coverage depicted them as criminals rather than abuse victims. Lyle, left, and Erik, right, are pictured in recent mugshots from 2023
The brothers were moved into the same housing unit at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego in 2018
During the trial, there was limited testimony about claims of sexual abuse.
Jurors were only allowed to vote on murder charges rather than manslaughter.
Last year, the brothers filed court papers seeking to overturn their convictions based on new evidence, including a letter written to a cousin of the brothers, Andy Cano.
Cano claimed how Erik had confided in him of being abused by their father, well before they were shot dead.
'I've been trying to avoid dad. It's still happening, Andy, but it's worse for me now,' a letter written by Eric reads. 'Every night I stay up thinking he might come in. … I'm afraid… He's crazy. He's warned me a hundred times about telling anyone, especially Lyle.'
Both lawyers, Gardner and Geragos, filed a writ of habeas corpus last May citing the letter asserting the brothers' convictions should be vacated.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon now has until April 11 to respond to the petition.
Should the brothers' convictions be vacated, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office will then need to decide whether to retry the case.
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