Lyle Menendez And His Bride-To-Be Kept Miles Apart On Wedding Day

LOS ANGELES - The bride-to-be wore a white suit with rhinestone buttons - and a worried expression.

But the bridegroom was a no-show yesterday for reasons that had nothing to do with cold feet.

Lyle Menendez and his intended, Anna Eriksson, had the license. He'd declared his love for her on national television. And they'd lined up a judge to officiate the nuptials.

They just didn't have the cooperation of Los Angeles County court and jail officials.

First, Lyle's ride from jail to the secret courthouse wedding was canceled by a supervising Superior Court judge, John Reid, who overruled the judge willing to perform the nuptials, Nancy Brown.

Then, when Brown offered to drive over to the Men's Central Jail to perform the nuptials, jail officials vetoed the plan, saying it violates policy that requires permission from the sentencing judge.

"This poor guy can't even get married," said a visibly vexed Leslie Abramson, who defended Lyle's brother, Erik, through two murder trials.

"He loves this woman and she loves him," Abramson said. "But they aren't allowed to have any romance."

And so, 28-year-old Lyle Menendez will be single late today when he and brother Erik, 25, are sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 1989 shotgun murders of their millionaire parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, at their Beverly Hills mansion.

According to the sheriff's department policy, Lyle must petition Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg for permission to get married. It is not clear how Weisberg would rule.

Lyle had hoped to marry Eriksson, his longtime pen-pal and supporter, on the eve of his sentencing during a simple secret ceremony performed by Brown in her courtroom in the downtown Criminal Courts Building.

The couple, who met through the mail long after Lyle's 1990 arrest for killing his parents, is legally entitled to be married, Brown said.

A frequent spectator at the brothers' retrial, Eriksson was dubbed "Rapunzel" by other frequent spectators because of her flowing blond hair that reached below her waist.

Lyle Menendez revealed his intentions in an interview with Barbara Walters that aired last week on ABC's "20/20," saying he wanted to marry "someone who I love very much" and naming Eriksson.