A retired tough-on-crime judge has become a surprising advocate for allowing Erik and Lyle Menendez to be released on parole after the shotgun murders of their parents more than three decades ago. And it was all because of his beloved golden retrievers.
Ex-Miami criminal court judge Jonathan T. Colby has visited the brothers numerous times in prison in the last 10 years, accompanied by his pups, as part of an outreach program that uses dogs to soften the hearts of hardened killers.
Colby has touched more than just the Menendez brothers with his work for the Love on a Leash pet therapy nonprofit. Sirhan Sirhan, who has been behind bars since the 1968 murder of Robert F. Kennedy, “cried like a baby” when he met Colby’s golden retriever Grace, he told The Post.
But what he saw in the brothers astounded him. Other inmates praised the convicted killers for transforming the prison yard’s vibe by “painting these incredible murals throughout the whole [prison] yard,” Colby said.
The brothers painted murals “honoring the veterans that are in prison, both guards and inmates,” and others showing Disney characters.
Colby, 67, said one mural stood out. It shows the Coronado dog beach in San Diego near the famous Hotel Del Coronado, where pooches paddle in the water.
Colby recounted how the Menendez brothers told 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 hearing earlier this month after family members argued that their case should be reevaluated, in part because of new evidence that the boys were sexually abused. He was joined by many members of the brothers’ family.
Following the hearing, on May 13, a judge ruled that the brothers’ sentence of life in prison without parole should be knocked down — making them eligible to be released by the parole board.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman strongly objected to the move, arguing the brothers never fully copped to their culpability in the gruesome 1989 murders, which saw them shoot their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, 16 times with shotguns, including reloading to deliver a fatal shot to their mother.
But Colby told The Post that he was struck during his visits with them to see that they set up a mentoring program, helping younger and newer inmates helping to care for the elderly ones.
He said he saw the two “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 said 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 tough sentences during the drug-fueled 90s in South Florida, said that what he saw in Erik and Lyle shifted his understanding of how inmates can change for the better once 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, said.
“I never believed in rehabilitation as part of sentencing,” he said. “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 will then be up to the state’s parole board and Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom as to whether they’re allowed to go free.
Colby’s experience with infamous inmates extends beyond the Menendez brothers. He’s also worked with Sirhan Sirhan, who is serving life without parole for assassinating Robert F. Kennedy, the father of current Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr.
He said the elderly, diminutive Sirhan cautiously approached Colby inside the prison and asked to pet Grace, the volunteer’s current 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 dogs have crossed paths with countless souls — hospitalized children, veterans, and notorious inmates, including Suge Knight of Death Row Records fame, and members of the murderous Manson “family,” all housed at California’s only “super-max” prison, located in San Diego County.
One person who isn’t shocked by Colby’s transformation from crime-buster to compassion-provider is his sister, Jamie Colby, a former Fox News Channel anchor.
“The imprisoned duo “just were different than many of the other people Jon met in his courtroom,” she said in a phone interview, her voice warm with pride. “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.”
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