Public Fees for Abramson in Menendez Case Denied : Courts: Judge says she must honor contract even if client is broke. She says she ‘cannot afford to go bankrupt.’

A judge on Wednesday refused to grant lawyer Leslie Abramson taxpayer money to defend accused murderer Erik Menendez in a second trial, declaring that it was not his concern if she took on a client who says he has run out of money.

Abramson--who became a national celebrity for her aggressive style in the first trial of Erik and Lyle Menendez, which ended in hung juries after six months--immediately told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Cecil Mills that she would ask to be removed from the case.

She said she remains loyal to Erik Menendez, whom she has doted on in court. She picked lint off his sweaters and wrapped her arms around his shoulders so often that Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Stanley M. Weisberg, who presided over the first trial, ordered her to stop the touching, reminding her that lawyers are not “nursemaids” or “surrogate mothers.”

She rubbed Menendez’s back Wednesday. But she said, “I cannot afford to go bankrupt.”

Mills, who has built a statewide reputation for engineering a novel policy that limits lawyers’ fees in death penalty cases, said Abramson signed a contract to defend Erik Menendez--and remains bound by it even if it was a “bad business deal.”

The contract clearly states that Abramson agreed to represent the younger Menendez brother at “guilt and penalty phase trials,” Mills said, emphasizing the plural and noting the upcoming retrial of both Menendez brothers. In exchange, he paid her $740,000, according to court records. Her fee, Mills said, was “anything but insubstantial.”

Erik Menendez, 23, and Lyle Menendez, 26, who face a second trial in the 1989 shotgun slayings of their parents, say that the $14-million Menendez estate is virtually depleted, leaving them broke. But Mills told Abramson that taxpayers have no obligation to “bail you out on this matter.”

As the hearing ended, Abramson hedged on what she will do, leaving it unclear whether she will stay on--and earn nothing at a second trial but the sort of national publicity most lawyers crave. Weisberg has scheduled a hearing next Wednesday to set a new trial date.

Abramson remained quiet Wednesday after the hearing. “I’m going to let you guys write this all by yourselves,” she told reporters who piled into an elevator with her. “I’m not going to say a word.”

Actually, Erik Menendez may have left Abramson with no option but to represent him for free.

The rules of legal ethics typically do not allow a criminal defense lawyer to withdraw from a case simply because the client has run out of cash--especially when the client wants the lawyer to stay.

In court Wednesday, Erik Menendez pleaded with Mills: “I am begging this court to compensate my attorney to represent me. There is no way I’d want to go to trial without her representation.

“I don’t feel I could open my life up to another attorney,” Erik Menendez added.

“Mr. Menendez,” Mills said, “I haven’t relieved your attorney. She is your attorney.”

Mills did grant permission Wednesday to Jill Lansing, who represented Lyle Menendez at the first trial, to leave the case. She had announced a few weeks ago that she wanted to spend more time with a young daughter.

“I find it difficult to comprehend how this court can allow one attorney to leave the case and force another to work for free,” Abramson told Mills.

The difference, the judge said, is that Lyle Menendez said Lansing’s departure was OK with him. Mills appointed the public defender’s office to the older brother’s case. Deputies Bill Weiss and Terri Towery have been assigned to it.

Abramson asked Mills for $100 per hour for a second trial, up to $250,000, although she said that self-imposed cap was perhaps “too low.”

Her request would have flouted a new county policy that pays private attorneys a flat fee for the defense of death penalty cases. The new policy, approved by the County Board of Supervisors in November, 1992, replaced a traditional plan of paying attorneys by the hour.

Mills pushed hard for a flat-fee policy when he took over in 1992 as supervising judge of the county’s criminal courts. It pays attorneys either $60,000, $90,000, $125,000 or $200,000 and up for a case, depending on the complexity.

Under the per-hour plan, the average cost for a death penalty case had been slightly more than $300,000 per year per defendant, court officials said.

The Menendez case was projected to be a $90,000 or $125,000 case, legal experts said. In practice, the $200,000-plus fee is reserved for the defense of serial killers, experts said.

Mills, however, emphasized that Erik Menendez and Abramson still have a valid contract.

The judge asked the younger brother: “Did you really anticipate that at some point, halfway through the proceedings, or perhaps less, she’d say, ‘No, I don’t want to represent you because you don’t have any more money’ ?”

“Another trial was never anticipated,” Erik Menendez, dressed in jailhouse blues, responded from the lectern.

Abramson immediately took back the lectern and proclaimed: “I don’t like the inference that somehow I’m a money grubber or that I made a bad business deal.”

Unmoved, the judge said: “My ruling will stand.”

If she wishes, Abramson can appeal.

So far, according to probate court and county records, the brothers’ defense has cost about $2 million.

The estate of the slain parents, Jose Menendez, 45, and Kitty Menendez, 47, paid $755,000 to defend Erik Menendez and $740,000 to defend Lyle Menendez. The brothers say they killed in fear after years of abuse. Prosecutors contend it was hatred and greed.

The estate paid $15,000 to attorney Robert Shapiro, who arranged for Erik Menendez’s surrender to police in March, 1990, seven months after the sons killed the parents. Abramson has been Erik Menendez’s chief defense lawyer.

Lansing’s share of the $740,000 fee has never been disclosed. Lyle Menendez had two prior lawyers, Joel R. Isaacson and Gerald Chaleff.

Taxpayers paid an additional $499,562 in lawyers’ fees, according to a March 3 county report. Because death penalty cases are so complex, it is not uncommon for the public to pay for additional defense lawyers.

Charles M. Sevilla, a San Diego lawyer, made $1,065 to advise Lyle Menendez during the trial, records show.

Michael Burt, a San Francisco public defender who was Lansing’s co-counsel, earned $311,175 for his full-time work on the case. Mills formally removed him on Wednesday.

Mills also ruled Wednesday that if Abramson goes forward with the second trial, it will be without co-counsel Marcia Morrissey, who earned $187,322 to defend Erik Menendez.

Because Abramson is familiar with the case, there’s “no further justification” for a second lawyer, Mills said.