Chapter 97 Section 19

In addition, the prosecution also found a letter Lyle wrote to a girlfriend that year, instructing her how to perjury in court. In view of all these circumstances, defense lawyers agreed that it would be inappropriate for Lyell to testify during the second trial because the evidence in the possession of the prosecution was sufficient to impeach him.As a result, some of the witnesses, evidence and strategies prepared in advance by Lyle's two lawyers, Charles Geschler and Terry Taurui, could not be used.After calling 25 witnesses, the defense announced the end of the hearing. In concluding remarks for the prosecution's four-day period, Dave Conn called the Monadez brothers' claim that they were abused by their parents as children "the dumbest, most ridiculous story ever told in court." .He described Eric's testimony as "full of lies and contradictions" and urged the jury to convict the two unworthy sons of their biological parents with first-degree homicide.

Leslie Aranson, who represented Eric, continued to refute the motive of committing the crime of "seeking money to kill" proposed by the prosecution through her speech.She blamed Dave Conn for "political reasons" for going so far to win the case, as the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office has lost three of the country's biggest hits over the past few years: Mike Martin Kindergarten Sexual Molestation, First Trial in Monadez Double Murder and O.J. Simpson Double Murder.Prosecutors in Los Angeles desperately need this lawsuit to save face and retaliate against the defense.

Lyle's defense attorney, Charles Geschler, echoed Leslie Aranson in his remarks, but in a much more subdued manner.He said that before the murder, Lyle had believed he was disinherited and that the death of his parents meant he would be penniless.Therefore, the motive of killing "for the purpose of obtaining economic benefits" obviously cannot be established.Charles asked the jury to consider in their deliberations that Lyle had actually only shot Hosse and that he was not responsible for Katie's death. The jury left the court for deliberation on March 1, 1996, during which two jurors left due to illness, and their seats were replaced by two alternate jurors, a man and a woman.After 4 days of discussion, the newly formed jury made a verdict on March 20: Lyle and Eric Monadez were each charged with two counts of first-degree homicide and one count of conspiracy.

A day later, lawyers for both sides began the three-week sentencing hearing in front of the same jury.The procedure for a sentencing hearing is essentially the same as that of a trial, but on a much smaller scale. It is worth mentioning that, on April 4, when Dr. William Fikali testified for the defense again, public prosecutor Dai Wei Conn forced him to admit in cross-examination that he had acted at the behest of Leslie Aranson. Next, he tampered with his diagnosis notes on Eric, and deleted large sections of the notes that were unfavorable to the defendant. Judge Stanley Weisberg immediately asked the jury to leave the court for a while.

Dr. William Fikali, who graduated from Harvard University, is the psychiatrist appointed by the prison for Eric, because after Eric was arrested, he was extremely depressed and had serious suicidal tendencies.Since June 1990, Dr. Fikali has been meeting Eric in prison once a week.Dr. Fekari, who has testified for the defense at the first and second hearings of the case, is on the witness stand for the third time today. On April 5, Eric's defense attorney, Leslie Aranson, invoked Section 5 of the Constitutional Amendment to remain silent and refused to answer any questions about the incident in court.

On the same day, Judge Stanley Weisberg rejected the defendant's request to dismiss the case on the grounds of "fraud", pointing out that the trial of Lyle Monadez was not affected by the "fraud" incident, because Leslie A. Ranxun is not his lawyer, and believes that if Leslie withdraws, Eric's other lawyer, Barry Levine, is fully qualified to take over the case. On April 6, public prosecutor Dai Wei Kangen stated what happened to the court. Before the first trial in 1993, Leslie Aranson submitted to the District Attorney General's Office the required physical evidence of the defense in the case, including the doctored notes of Dr. William Fikali.During the sentencing hearing, David Conn needed to consult some chapters of the notebook in court one day, but he forgot his copy in his office in downtown Los Angeles, and temporarily borrowed the prosecutor's office. A copy in the possession of another expert witness, Dr. Diaz.Dr. Diaz did not attend the first trial. When he asked the defendant for a copy of Dr. William Fikali's notes in 1995, Leslie Aranson was negligent and handed him the unaltered original record a copy of.Comparing the two, Dai Wei Kang soon discovered that 24 pages were removed from Dr. William Fikali's original record, and 10 pages were re-added.

According to the client Eric's request, Judge Stanley Weisberg agreed to let Leslie Aranson continue to participate in the trial of the case as Eric's defense attorney.Leslie stayed, but never said a word in court again. Judge Weissberg also announced that during subsequent hearings and rulings, all witnesses, lawyers and jurors must not mention, discuss or consider the testimony of Dr. William Fikali and the "fraud" incident. After three days of deliberations, the jury rendered its verdict on April 17, 1996, and sentenced Lyle and Eric Monadez to life imprisonment. When answering questions from reporters, the jurors said that they neither believed the motive of the crime "for the purpose of obtaining financial gain" proposed by the prosecution, nor did they believe the defense's claim that the two defendants committed the murder because Imminent danger from parents is sensed.The jury agreed that the Monadez brothers' story of sexual harassment may have been a lie, but it was entirely possible that José and Katie put undue stress on their sons.

Lyle and Eric were last seen on national television on July 2, 1996.In an interview with ABC's late-night talk show "20/20," the brothers told host Barbara Waters that their last wish in life was to be in the same prison. Unfortunately, the relevant authorities in California did not comply with this request of the Monadez brothers "for safety reasons".Currently, Joseph Lyle Monadez is imprisoned in Tehachapi in the mountains of south-central California, and Eric Monadez is imprisoned in the outskirts of Sacramento, the capital of Northern California.The distance between the two places is nearly 300 miles, or about 480 kilometers.