The Juror and the Journalist — RIP Robert Rand

 

 

Dear Menendez Supporter:

I hope this is not how you are finding out about the death of Journalist Robert Rand. If it is, I know you will be as shocked as the rest of us were when we learned the news earlier this month.

It is the end of an era.

Sadly, Bob won’t be here to greet Lyle and Erik when they eventually walk out of prison.

Happily, he played an instrumental role in getting their sentence changed to include the possibility of parole. Or, as we referred to it, Menendez Miracle #6.

 

Blog post:

Menendez Miracle #6

 

First Trial

Bob loved to tell the story of how we sat across the courtroom from each other for a full seven months before we ever spoke. He knew me from jury selection. I did not know him or anyone else in the audience. We shared a unique, intense experience — witnessing the first trial of Lyle and Erik Menendez. One month of jury selection. Opening statements. Five months of dramatic testimony. Closing arguments. Another month of jury deliberations resulting in two hung juries.

As an Erik Menendez juror I sat in the jury box, unless it was Lyle’s jury’s turn, as Bob sat in the audience. He was one of only a handful of journalists granted that privilege. He was also one of the few hand-picked journalists to interview “Leslie’s Girls” (as we were known un-affectionately by the media) in the law offices of defense attorney Leslie Abramson after the first trial ended in January 1994.

While Bob was interviewing everyone associated with the case (including me, at my home in Lake View Terrace), as background for his book; and while some of my fellow jurors were being pitted against each other on national talk shows; I was considering a request to publish my trial journal and speaking to groups of lawyers and students at locations such as Yale, Princeton, and Airlie about my experience as a juror on a high profile trial.

 

Second Trial

By the time the second trial started, in October 1995, the first small print run of my book  — Hung Jury: The Diary of a Menendez Juror — had sold out. There was no talk of reprinting it because the O.J. Simpson double murder trial sucked all the attention away from Menendez. Except, that is, for the part where the DA was now desperate for a “win” at the expense of the brothers.

While Bob attended the second trial in person, I followed along as best I could from home. I wrote an essay comparing the two trials (and demonstrating how unfair the second trial was) and it was eventually included in the updated edition of my book.

Free charts:

What is Your Verdict? + Pressure to Convict 

 

Fast Forward 20 Years

Some people think we were friends the whole time. We weren’t. Bob lived his life and I lived mine. Every 5 years I would get a call from some media outlet, or a college student writing a paper. But otherwise, things were quiet Menendez-wise.

But 2016 was different. The 20^th anniversary of the 2^nd trial murder verdicts triggered a chain of events that did not slow down for the better part of the next decade. My book was republished with new material; a new documentary aired; Dick Wolf’s series — Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders — was being produced; and Bob and I reconnected.

I hadn’t talked about the case in so long that my friends here in Albuquerque, where I moved in 2005, didn’t even know I had ever been a juror. Why not? Because being pro-Menendez was not a popular thing in the 90s. And the case was not easy to summarize in a sound bite. With my book out of print, unavailable to suggest reading to learn more about the case, it was just too stressful a topic and nobody cared anymore anyway. Why bring it up?

Being around Bob was like Menendez exposure therapy for me — because he talked about it a lot! — taking some of the anxiety out of it for me. It was a relief to talk to someone who had shared my experience and who was like-minded about it.

Web page:

The Story of Juror #9

 

Bob, in turn, was thrilled to find that I was now a professional organizer who could (and did) help him organize his boxes full of notes, tapes, and other Menendez records. Sadly, they’ve since been messed up by one or more production companies. (I’m not naming names because I don’t really know who was at fault and have also not assessed the damage in person. I’m only mentioning it here in case someone who reads this sees the boxes and thinks: They were professionally organized? LOL!)

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Photo album:

 The Menendez Boxes Project

 

The Juror and The Journalist

Bob often referred to me as his “partner in (true) crime” (aka Juror #9 or Agent 99).

What does that mean? Here are some examples of how we worked together:

• We promoted each other’s books.
• We collaborated on presentations, both in-person and virtual.
• We appeared in many of the same documentaries and news reports.
• We referred one another to journalists, podcasts hosts, and news producers for interviews.
• We shared each other’s social media posts with our own followers.
• We discussed any and all evidence (new and old) as to its potential value.
• On the rare occasion when he had forgotten or wanted to clarify something about the case, he would ask me what I remember or where he could find it. Sometimes I knew the answer and sometimes I didn’t.

He worked with others, too, of course — reporters, producers, editor, webmaster, etc. — but for years it felt like it was the two of us against a Menendez-hostile world. We enjoyed working as a team, calling ourselves “The Juror and The Journalist”. We felt that each of our perspectives strengthened and lent credibility and interest to the other.

 

The Menendez Miracles

Then the miracles started happening. Being a Menendez supporter became fun! We touched bases whenever there was a development, whether it be publicly-breaking news or some behind-the-scenes goings-on. We marveled at each new wave of support and we celebrated each of what I dubbed “The Menendez Miracles”.

Web page:

The Menendez Miracles

 

 

 

Who will replace him?

Nobody can replace Robert Rand. He’s irreplaceable. I do hope, of course, that knowledgeable and unbiased reporters continue to keep us informed about the Menendez brothers, but it will be impossible for them to do so with the same in-depth knowledge that Bob had.

I, like everyone else, just assumed he’d be here forever to report on the Menendez case. He was my first source for breaking news, which is why I always recommended following him, not me, for such things. I have already taken a step back in my participation in the last year or so. My memory, and health, and energy just aren’t what they used to be.

Meanwhile, I have been frankly relieved that some of the newer Menendez supporters have actually studied the trials and understand the nuances of the case. They don’t just rely on the easily-Googled prosecution-biased headlines of the 1990s for their reporting and their social media and podcast material. I’m not going to offer anyone up as Bob’s replacement, though. Everyone thinks they’re an expert these days, but new, true experts have and will make themselves known by consistently providing factual updates in their own way. And I may have another blog post or two in me. We’ll see.

 

Web page:

Top Menendez Media Picks

 

The story isn’t over yet

As Bob, or Rob, or Robert — however you knew him — always said:

The story isn’t over yet.

The question was always why.

I gave Lyle and Erik the benefit of my reasonable doubt 32 years ago by voting for manslaughter. And yet, what was judged as murder then still stands as murder today, with the exception that they are now eligible for parole.

At this point they have served 36-years-and-counting. No matter what really happened that night in 1989, they’ve served their time and have already made something of themselves. If they can meet the conditions of parole they have potentially bright futures ahead of them outside of prison, thanks in large part to the tireless advocacy of Robert Rand.

Blog posts:

It’s not over for the Menendez brothers!

Inspiring Prison Programs

 

My heart goes out to Bob’s family, friends, colleagues, and the entire Menendez community.

RIP, my partner in (true) crime. You will be missed!

 

 

Feel free to leave your memories of Robert Rand in the comments below.