A retired tough-on-crime choose has turn out to be a stunning advocate for permitting Erik and Lyle Menendez to be launched on parole after the shotgun murders of their dad and mom greater than three many years in the past. And it was all due to his beloved golden retrievers.
Ex-Miami prison courtroom choose 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 child” when he met Colby’s golden retriever Grace, he informed The Put up.
However what he noticed within the brothers astounded him. Different inmates praised the convicted killers for reworking the jail yard’s vibe by “portray these unimaginable murals all through the entire [prison] yard,” Colby stated.
The brothers painted murals “honoring the veterans which are in jail, each guards and inmates,” and others exhibiting Disney characters.
Colby, 67, stated one mural stood out. It reveals the Coronado canine seashore in San Diego close to the well-known Lodge Del Coronado, the place pooches paddle within the water.
Colby recounted how the Menendez brothers informed him, “We all know we are going to by no means have the ability to see it. So we bought an image of it. We painted it up on one of many partitions with a golden retriever, so we might take pleasure in it too.”
Colby testified in favor of Lyle and Erik Menendez being resentenced at a listening to earlier this month after members of the family argued that their case needs to be reevaluated, partly due to new proof that the boys have been sexually abused. He was joined by many members of the brothers’ household.
Following the listening to, on Might 13, a choose dominated that the brothers’ sentence of life in jail with out parole needs to be knocked down — making them eligible to be launched by the parole board.
Los Angeles County District Legal professional 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 dad and mom, José and Kitty Menendez, 16 instances with shotguns, together with reloading to ship a deadly shot to their mom.
However Colby informed The Put up 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 distinction within the lives of different inmates, in selling training, in selling peace, in selling 12-step applications, and in selling a greater design of the power to make it extra conducive to rehabilitation.”
The retired jurist stated the brothers “did so many issues that I noticed and witnessed that have been counseled earlier than they’d any hope of being acknowledged 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.
“After I noticed the work they did and the levels they obtained from the College of California whereas incarcerated, plus all their work, plus the applications they arrange, and understand they did that for no different purpose than that, maybe that is what rehabilitation in jail seems like,” Colby, who grew up in Rego Park, Queens, stated.
“I by no means believed in rehabilitation as a part of sentencing,” he stated. “I believed that when an individual who dedicated against the law was convicted by a jury in my courtroom and was sentenced to jail, they usually have been violent, my function was to maintain society secure from this particular person, from additional hurt.”
Following their resentencing, Lyle and Erik have parole hearings set for Aug. 21 and 22. It’s 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 fulfill you, sir,’” Colby recalled the convicted killer saying. “He stated, ‘Might I pet Grace? I’ve heard about her.”
Sirhan “bought down on his palms and knees. [He] cried like a child and held her like he was seeing his little one, and he said that he’s been in jail for 50-plus years, and this was the primary time that he’s seen a canine or touched a canine, and this meant a lot to him.”
Colby and his canine have crossed paths with numerous souls — hospitalized youngsters, veterans, and infamous inmates, together with Suge Knight of Dying Row Data fame, and members of the murderous Manson “household,” 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 “simply have been totally different than most of the different folks Jon met in his courtroom,” she stated in a cellphone interview, her voice heat with delight. “He actually did, in his courtroom, see the worst of the worst, the MS-13 [members], murderers, little one molesters, simply the worst of the worst, and he noticed a goodness within the Menendez brothers.”
