A retired tough-on-crime decide has grow to be a shocking advocate for permitting Erik and Lyle Menendez to be launched on parole after the shotgun murders of their mother and father greater than three many years in the past. And it was all due to his beloved golden retrievers.
Ex-Miami felony court docket decide Jonathan T. Colby has visited the brothers quite a few instances in jail within the final 10 years, accompanied by his pups, as a part of an outreach program that makes use of canine to melt the hearts of hardened killers.
Colby has touched extra than simply the Menendez brothers along with his work for the Love on a Leash pet remedy nonprofit. Sirhan Sirhan, who has been behind bars for the reason that 1968 homicide of Robert F. Kennedy, “cried like a baby” when he met Colby’s golden retriever Grace, he advised The Publish.
However what he noticed within the brothers astounded him. Different inmates praised the convicted killers for remodeling the jail yard’s vibe by “painting these incredible murals throughout the whole [prison] yard,” Colby stated.
The brothers painted murals “honoring the veterans that are in prison, both guards and inmates,” and others exhibiting Disney characters.
Colby, 67, stated one mural stood out. It reveals the Coronado canine seaside in San Diego close to the well-known Resort Del Coronado, the place pooches paddle within the water.
Colby recounted how the Menendez brothers advised him, “We know we will never be able to see it. So we got a picture of it. We painted it up on one of the walls with a golden retriever, so we could enjoy it too.”
Colby testified in favor of Lyle and Erik Menendez being resentenced at a listening to earlier this month after relations argued that their case must be reevaluated, partly due to new proof that the boys had been sexually abused. He was joined by many members of the brothers’ household.
Following the listening to, on Could 13, a decide dominated that the brothers’ sentence of life in jail with out parole must be knocked down — making them eligible to be launched by the parole board.
Los Angeles County District Lawyer Nathan Hochman strongly objected to the transfer, arguing the brothers by no means totally copped to their culpability within the grotesque 1989 murders, which noticed them shoot their mother and father, José and Kitty Menendez, 16 instances with shotguns, together with reloading to ship a deadly shot to their mom.
However Colby advised The Publish that he was struck throughout his visits with them to see that they arrange a mentoring program, serving to youthful and newer inmates serving to to look after the aged ones.
He stated he noticed the 2 “make a difference in the lives of other inmates, in promoting education, in promoting peace, in promoting 12-step programs, and in promoting a better design of the facility to make it more conducive to rehabilitation.”
The retired jurist stated the brothers “did so many things that I observed and witnessed that were commended before they had any hope of being recognized with a pardon, parole or resentencing.”
Colby, who handed out his share of robust sentences throughout the drug-fueled 90s in South Florida, stated that what he noticed in Erik and Lyle shifted his understanding of how inmates can change for the higher as soon as incarcerated.
“When I saw the work they did and the degrees they received from the University of California while incarcerated, plus all their work, plus the programs they set up, and realize they did that for no other reason than that, perhaps this is what rehabilitation in prison looks like,” Colby, who grew up in Rego Park, Queens, stated.
“I never believed in rehabilitation as part of sentencing,” he stated. “I believed that when a person who committed a crime was convicted by a jury in my court and was sentenced to prison, and they were violent, my purpose was to keep society safe from this person, from further harm.”
Following their resentencing, Lyle and Erik have parole hearings set for Aug. 21 and 22. It is going to then be as much as the state’s parole board and Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom as to whether or not they’re allowed to go free.
Colby’s expertise with notorious inmates extends past the Menendez brothers. He’s additionally labored with Sirhan Sirhan, who’s serving life with out parole for assassinating Robert F. Kennedy, the daddy of present Well being and Human Companies Secretary RFK Jr.
He stated the aged, diminutive Sirhan cautiously approached Colby contained in the jail and requested to pet Grace, the volunteer’s present canine.
“‘I’m honored to meet you, sir,’” Colby recalled the convicted killer saying. “He said, ‘May I pet Grace? I’ve heard about her.”
Sirhan “got down on his hands and knees. [He] cried like a baby and held her like he was seeing his child, and he stated that he’s been in prison for 50-plus years, and this was the first time that he’s seen a dog or touched a dog, and this meant so much to him.”
Colby and his canine have crossed paths with numerous souls — hospitalized youngsters, veterans, and infamous inmates, together with Suge Knight of Loss of life Row Data fame, and members of the murderous Manson “family,” all housed at California’s solely “super-max” jail, positioned in San Diego County.
One one who isn’t shocked by Colby’s transformation from crime-buster to compassion-provider is his sister, Jamie Colby, a former Fox Information Channel anchor.
“The imprisoned duo “just were different than many of the other people Jon met in his courtroom,” she stated in a cellphone interview, her voice heat with pleasure. “He really did, in his courtroom, see the worst of the worst, the MS-13 [members], murderers, child molesters, just the worst of the worst, and he spotted a goodness in the Menendez brothers.”
