Where is the Menendez Brothers' attorney, Leslie Abramson, now?

Tough trial lawyer Leslie Abramson, known for representing half of the Menendez brothers in the mid-1990s, left her mark on one of the most gripping murder cases in recent history.

The New York City-born attorney represented Erik Menendez in both trials after he and his brother Lyle Menendez murdered their parents in their home in Beverly Hills, California. Ultimately, the young men were found guilty of the 1989 double murder and are still serving life sentences to this day.

The breathtaking events take center stage Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murdersnow on Peacock, starring Emmy Award- and Golden Globe-winning actress Edie Falco (The sopranos, Sister Jackie) in the leading role as Erik Menendez's staunch defender.

But where is Leslie Abramson now? Read on to find out.

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Leslie Abramson's career before the Menendez murders

Leslie Abramson was born in Queens, New York City in 1943 and was raised by her mother and grandmother after her father abandoned the family The Washington Post. She married and had a daughter before moving to Los Angeles in 1964 and eventually divorcing the child's father.

She later married Los Angeles Times According to reporter Tim Rutten, with whom she adopted a son People. The couple divorced in 2007.

Abramson earned her law degree from UCLA and spent her first six years as a public defender, where she became known for her no-nonsense demeanor and “take-no-prisoners tactics” before going into private practice, per The Washington Post.

She received several awards, including in 1985 when she became the first woman to receive the title of “Outstanding Trial Attorney” from the Los Angeles Criminal Courts Bar Association, according to a June 23, 1989 article The Los Angeles Times. The article was published less than a month before Erik and Lyle Menendez shot Kitty and Jose Menendez and was titled “The Defense Attorney: Some Say Leslie Abramson Is the Best Criminal Defense Attorney Ever.” Others Say She's the Best, Period .”

At the time, Abramson was defending Brian Hale, whose conviction for murdering two elderly men was overturned because of mental incompetence. She also defended the gynecologist Dr. Khalid Parwez, who was accused – and later acquitted – of strangling his 11-year-old son and horrifically hacking his body into hundreds of pieces Los Angeles Times.

Abramson's life's mission was to achieve the abolition of the death penalty and, according to The Washington Post“She spent her professional life building a reputation as a 4-foot-11, fire-breathing, mud-throwing, nuclear-powered pain in the legal ass.”

In 1990, famous journalist Dominick Dunne wrote Vanity Fair that Abramson “was considered Los Angeles’ most brilliant death row defense attorney.”

In 1988, a year before Erik and Lyle Menendez shot and killed their parents, Abramson successfully defended 17-year-old Arnel Salvatierra, who was charged with first-degree murder in the 1986 shooting death of his father. With Abramson's support, the teen was instead convicted of involuntary manslaughter after abuse allegations came to light and given a suspended sentence, Dunne reported.

The Menendez brothers were hoping for a similar result.

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Leslie Abramson's work as Erik Menendez's lawyer

Abramson's reputation acquired national status – and a contemporary one Saturday Night Live episode — when she began representing Erik Menendez in 1993, in which the brothers shared a trial with two different jurors. Abramson argued — on points that continue to weigh on the consciences of many — that the brothers killed their parents after suffering years of physical and sexual abuse.

Erik Menendez's jury of six women and six men hung: the women voted for a manslaughter charge, while the men voted for murder The Washington Post.

“I've been representing people accused of murder for 27 years, and these people simply don't compare to anyone else I've ever represented,” she told the outlet. “They are not murderers. These are troubled children in a very difficult and grotesque home environment, and they went crazy.”

After jury failure twice in 1993, the Menendez brothers were retried in 1995, although evidence of their parents' alleged abuse was severely limited in the second trial. In 1996, the brothers were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, where they remain today.

“It is a grotesquely disproportionate sentence and punishment for what happened here,” she said The Washington Post at the time. “When children kill their parents, something is wrong in that family. For a sex offender who kills strangers, it's a different moral mix. They are truly a scourge on society…This is a different level of moral awfulness.”

Abramson was later investigated in connection with the Menendez trial for allegedly asking a psychiatrist to change his notes, although prosecutors ultimately declined to prosecute for lack of evidence, they say The New York Times. The California State Bar also declined to press charges of misconduct.

Nearly 30 years later, the brothers have received an avalanche of support in the hope that newly reviewed evidence pointing to Jose Menendez's alleged abuse will free them.

A hearing is scheduled for December 11, 2024.

Leslie Abramson's life after the Menendez murders

In 1997, Abramson wrote her memoirs: The Defense is Ready: Life in the Trenches of Criminal Lawpublished by Simon & Schuster.

The description states: “The book takes you into today's courtroom and gives you a powerful first-hand account of how the courage and timidity, the wisdom and folly, the selflessness and the corruptibility of real lawyers, judges, victims and the defendant are woven into the complex fabric of our time. “Frustrating criminal justice system.”

Abramson returned to the courtroom spotlight in 2004 when he defended noted record producer Phil Spector and replaced OJ Simpson's “Dream Team” lawyer Robert Shapiro after a mistrial for the 2003 murder of Lana Clarkson The Los Angeles Times. Spector, who was represented by another defense attorney at the time, was ultimately found guilty NBC News.

The feature-length documentary will be released in October 2024 The Menendez brothers released an email from Abramson in which she expressed little interest in publicly discussing the case that catapulted her into the national spotlight, they say Entertainment tonight.

“30 years is a long time,” she wrote of the Menendez brothers’ trial. “I want to leave the past in the past. Neither the media nor teenagers' petitions will change the fate of these clients. Only the court can do that, and that’s what they decided.”

Learn more about Abramson's role in the case by watching all eight episodes of Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murdersnow available on Peacock.