[pensive music playing]
[siren wailing in the distance]
[line ringing]
[static buzzing]
[operator speaking]
[man 1 speaking]
[man 2 screaming]
[operator speaking]
[man 1 speaking]
[operator speaking]
[man 1 sobbing]
[operator speaking]
[man 1 sobbing] Oh, no.
[operator speaking]
[man 1 speaking]
[man 1 sobbing]
[Tom Brokaw] It is one of the most
sensational criminal cases in the country.
Lyle and Erik Menendez,
the brothers accused of murdering
their rich parents in Beverly Hills.
[on phone]
[dramatic music playing]
[door buzzing]
[on phone]
[dramatic music continues]
[metal door slams shut]
[dramatic music continues]
[guard yells indistinctly]
[dramatic music continues]
[camera clicking]
[music ends]
[dramatic sting]
[TV host] Beverly Hills, one of the most
expensive pieces of real estate.
["Money" by The Flying Lizards playing]
Beverly Hills is vibrant,
alive, chic, and sophisticated.
The best things in life are free
[man] Beverly Hills was
really the American dream.
People wanted to live in those mansions.
People wanted to have that kind of money.
And in the 1980s, Beverly Hills,
as well as the rest of the United States,
was really in the era of "greed is good."
90210 is one of the most
exclusive zip codes in the world.
It's the place for the rich and famous.
["Money" continues]
[woman] Everybody knows Beverly Hills.
If you live in Oklahoma,
you've heard of Beverly Hills.
This was maybe
the safest place in America.
Murders don't happen in Beverly Hills,
and then two boys
don't k*ll their parents in Beverly Hills.
[unsettling music playing]
[music ends]
[crickets chirping]
[indistinct radio chatter]
[intriguing music playing]
[officer] At approximately 11:47 p.m.,
uh, we received a 911 emergency call
of possible sh**ting victims
at this location.
Our officers responded and did, in fact,
determine that there had been a sh**ting.
It's not supposed to happen
in Beverly Hills.
A movie executive and his wife
were brutally slain
in their million-dollar mansion.
There were no clues and no suspects.
[Terry Murphy] Neighbors say they heard
several g*nshots and then screams
shortly after ten o'clock Sunday night.
The bodies of Jose Menendez
and his wife, Kitty,
were found inside their Elm Drive home.
I got a phone call from my brother, Brian.
And he told me Kitty
and Jose had been shot.
I... put the phone down,
and I started running
around the house screaming.
I... I couldn't... I couldn't bear it,
and it's still difficult
thinking about it.
[unsettling music playing]
[reporter] Now that you know
what has happened,
do you have concerns tonight for yourself?
Yes, somewhat. It's a very uneasy feeling
living in the neighborhood
where something like this
has happened so close to home.
[Pamela] I recall distinctly
that when the police went into the den
where the two bodies were,
that Jose Menendez's head had been...
the back of his skull had been blown off,
and while they were there,
his brains fell out on the floor.
There was brain matter
and blood, uh, dripping from the ceiling.
The bodies were,
you know, in terrible shape.
Shotguns, you know,
do horrible damage to a human body.
But the police were really curious
about what happened to all the shells.
There were no shells.
Somebody had picked up all the shells
from the shotgun casings.
I've been in this business
for over 33 years,
and I've heard of very few murders
that were more savage than this one was.
[reporter] Their college-age sons,
19-year-old Erik and 22-year-old Lyle,
said they found the bodies
after a night at the movies.
[Pamela] They found the two brothers
out in front of the house.
They were hysterical.
They were overacting.
But the police were very nice to them.
They were not treated as suspects
by the investigators at the beginning.
[on phone]
Beverly Hills is
a different kind of police department.
They have much better customer service
for their citizens.
[music fades]
[pensive music playing]
[on tape]
[on interrogation tape]
[on interrogation tape]
[Pamela] Statistically, if you have
a domestic homicide,
you would be an idiot police officer
not to consider other family members.
On the other hand, this is Beverly Hills,
and the idea that the sons, at 21 and 18,
could have been so responsible
for such incredible acts of violence,
you have a tension here.
Could this really have been possible?
Why? What's the motive?
There's something weird going on here.
[music fades]
I began covering the Menendez case
the day after the murders,
and I have written a book
about the entire trial.
[intriguing music playing]
I met Erik and Lyle Menendez
at the Menendez mansion
at 722 North Elm Drive.
And they were wearing tennis whites.
They were tan.
They were laughing. They were joking.
I kept feeling, "This is so strange."
"How can they be living here
after this terrible crime took place?"
[on phone]
Lyle Menendez did 90% of the talking
the first day that I met
with the two brothers,
and he told me,
"We did so many things together."
"We loved each other so much.
We spent so much time together."
At one point, Lyle Menendez asked me
if I would like to work with the brothers
on a book about their father.
They thought he was such a great man.
[on phone]
[Robert] He said that the Menendez family
was really like the Kennedys.
That Jose was going to move to Miami
and run for the US Senate from Florida.
Lyle said that he and Erik would like
to carry out their father's plans.
[on interview tape]
He's telling me these grandiose plans.
These guys are 18 and 21.
[on phone]
[somber music playing]
[chapel bell tolling]
[reporter] There was a memorial service
at the Princeton University chapel.
The most poignant moment was
when Lyle read a letter from his father.
It said, "I believe that both you and Erik
can make a difference."
"I believe that you will."
"I encourage you
not to select the easy road."
"I urge you to walk with honor
regardless of the consequences
and to challenge yourself to excellence."
[Robert] Friends of
Jose and Kitty Menendez
were surprised
at how cool and calm Lyle was
and how beautifully
he eulogized his parents.
Erik and Lyle Menendez were each
handling the deaths of their parents
in very different ways.
Lyle Menendez really
kind of became like his father overnight.
Suddenly, he went
from being a goofy college kid
to wanting to be a business mogul.
[reporter] Friends say it was
a strange, swaggering imitation
of his businessman father.
And for a while,
Lyle hired these bodyguards,
saying he feared for his own life
because his father had
a lot of business enemies.
[on phone]
Their behavior after the murders
was startling.
They went shopping.
Now, I love a good shopping expedition,
but this was crazy.
[upbeat music playing]
They started spending the money
as if it was water,
as if they'd been desperate
for that kind of money.
Porsche Carrera,
Jeep Wrangler, three Rolexes.
Ching. Ching. Ching. Ching. Ching.
Spending money.
[reporter 1] Erik dropped plans
to enter UCLA
and hired a $50,000-a-year tennis coach
to help him turn pro.
[reporter 2] Lyle bought a Porsche,
expensive clothes,
and a restaurant near the family's
former home in Princeton, New Jersey.
[on phone]
[pensive music playing]
[pensive music continues]
[Alan] Contrary to the way some people
think, the police are not stupid.
And when the brothers
started spending money,
the police were like, "Hmm."
"Wonder if that would be a motive?"
[tense music playing]
[Pamela] The thing is,
when you have a homicide inside a house,
98% of the time,
it's someone you know, it's a relative.
The suspicion was on the brothers,
even though they told the police
they thought it was a Mafia hit.
As they investigated,
they'd come to me and say,
"We have this now."
And I'd say, "Great, but there's
not enough to file a case yet."
I needed the police to find me the g*ns,
or find me where they bought the g*ns,
or something major like that.
[tense music continues]
Finally, the investigators
ended up in San Diego.
They found the place
where they bought the g*ns,
using Lyle Menendez's
roommate's stolen ID card.
[reporter 1] The actual m*rder weapons
have never been found,
but authorities say they believe
12-gauge Mossberg shotguns,
just like this one, were used.
And when that happened,
the case was ready to go.
[indistinct chatter]
Today at approximately 1:20 p.m.,
Beverly Hills police detectives
arrested Joseph Lyle Menendez, 22,
for the August murders
of his mother and father,
Maria Louise Kitty Menendez
and Jose Enrique Menendez.
[reporter 2] Police say the motive
was apparently money,
a $14 million inheritance
to be shared by the brothers.
[pensive music playing]
[on phone]
[intriguing music playing]
[reporter 3] Police arrested Lyle
at the family mansion yesterday.
Younger brother Erik's reportedly
returning from an overseas trip
to surrender.
[intriguing music continues]
[on phone]
[music fades]
The day I learned
that Lyle and Erik were arrested
was a jaw drop.
[dramatic music playing]
[Robert] For seven months,
it was kind of a local LA story.
And in March of 1990,
it became a national
and international media phenomenon.
Not many Hollywood m*rder mysteries
ever took a more dramatic turn.
The bizarre twist
to a sensational California m*rder.
They should suffer
just like their parents did.
[Robert] The public couldn't get enough.
Overnight, the Menendez case
blew up all over the world.
[dramatic music continues]
Oh, come on, they're so adorable.
They are too fine to go to prison. Whoo!
I know they don't exactly
have an airtight case, okay?
Lyle went on a little bit of
a spending spree a week after the murders.
He got, um, a couple of Rolexes
and a $70,000 Porsche. But you know what?
Sometimes you have to treat yourself.
[TV host] From the prosecutor's
point of view, it's a phone-in.
Multiple shotgun blasts.
A classic motive, greed and anger.
They wanna get their hands
on a $14 million estate.
[anchor] The story of the brutal m*rder
has suddenly become the most
sought-after property in Hollywood.
[anchor 2] Two California brothers
have pleaded not guilty
to charges they k*lled
their wealthy parents.
The arrest of Lyle and Erik Menendez
for the shotgun slaying of their parents
came as a surprise to family members.
[music ends]
[Joan] I was at work.
I worked for the phone company.
Uh, Jose's secretary had called me
to tell me they were arrested.
And I went around my office
screaming and yelling and...
It was unbelievable to me
that... that this could be so.
I knew they had made a mistake.
It couldn't be
that Lyle and Erik would have done this.
[Robert] Lyle Menendez initially told
all the family members,
you know, this was a big misunderstanding.
He and Erik were innocent.
Most of the Menendez family
said there's no possible way
that the brothers were involved in this.
[tense music playing]
[reporter] Family members,
including Lyle and Erik's grandmother,
believe in the brothers' innocence.
These boys k*lling father and mother?
No, no, and no.
[on phone]
[tense music continues]
- [rock music playing]
- [helicopter blades whirring]
[man] Is that okay?
[woman] Frank, give me another XLR, quick.
[reporter 1] Jury selection begins
in a m*rder trial,
and it's not your ordinary case.
[reporter 2] Lyle Menendez
and brother Erik
are accused of k*lling their parents.
Down in front.
Come on, I've got a cameraman here
who's gonna get a shot.
You practice running backwards?
See?
[Alan] I was thrilled to pieces
to cover this trial.
I knew that this was
going to be a career maker.
[chuckles] And I... I drew the lucky straw,
I... I suppose.
[woman] I was already well aware
of the details
of having read everything
in newspapers and in magazines.
Even though they preferred
that you did not.
When I was called to jury duty,
I had no idea what the case would be.
On the first day, there were rumors
that it was for the Menendez case.
I didn't think that was possible
because I thought
that had happened years earlier.
So when I first saw Erik Menendez
walk into the courtroom,
I knew for sure that it was.
I'd never seen a m*rder*r before.
As far as I knew, he was a m*rder*r.
[Alan] This was going to be one
of the first televised celebrity trials.
The trial was on
a new cable TV channel called Court TV.
[announcer] We now return
to the Menendez brothers on trial.
[show theme music playing]
It was a m*rder trial as a reality show.
[pensive music playing]
[Alan] You have every ingredient
you could possibly want in a trial.
You've got Beverly Hills.
You've got m*rder.
And then you've got one other ingredient.
It's now on television.
[reporter 1] Attorney Leslie Abramson
is representing Erik Menendez.
"Why aren't you nervous today?"
It's because I know this case so well.
I've lived this case. I've lived
their lives for three and a half years.
So there's nothing to be nervous about.
I know it.
We wondered what drives
this tiny, brash, brainy woman
with the in-your-face style.
[reporter 2] This 4-foot-11
Little Orphan Annie lookalike
is 104 pounds of pure dynamite.
[pensive music playing]
Her trademark audacity has helped her
save a dozen people from death row.
She's one of the foremost
criminal defense lawyers in the nation.
[Betty] Leslie Abramson was
a magnificent attorney.
And you were aware of that
from the moment she started.
If I told you what
I really thought of Leslie Abramson,
I would be sued.
'Cause she, I think,
has lost all her money.
And I'm not giving up my house.
[reporter 3] Jill Lansing,
a former public defender,
is Lyle Menendez's lawyer.
[Jill] I remember the first day
I met him at the jail.
I said the same thing to him
that everybody else always asks me.
"It must be really terrible,
given the lifestyle you've had,
to be in jail."
And his answer was,
"In some ways,
it's easier than living at home."
[on phone]
[pensive music continues]
[Pamela] I had no reaction
to the Menendez brothers.
There was no visceral reaction.
I didn't feel like
I was in the presence of pure evil.
They were like potted plants to me.
They were like poisonous potted plants,
but there was nothing about them
that I found fascinating.
They were just these dumb jock... K*llers.
[Betty] The judge had been the judge
on the Rodney King case.
That turned out not the way the judge,
I'm sure, would like to have had it.
- [crowd clamoring]
- [glass shatters]
[newsreader] Tensions exploded overnight
on the streets of Los Angeles
following the acquittal
of four police officers charged
in the beating of Rodney King.
I look at it like this.
You beat a dog, you go to jail.
You beat a Black man, nothing happens.
[yelling]
[Alan] After the Rodney King case,
people in Los Angeles had
a distrust of the court system.
And the authorities were
determined to show everyone
that the court system
was legitimate and had credibility.
[tense music playing]
[reporter] Day one of the trial.
The prosecution and defense
are ready to do battle
with their two
radically different versions
of the same event.
- [Weisberg] Good morning to you all.
- [people] Good morning.
[Weisberg] This is a case
of People v. Lyle Menendez
and People v. Erik Menendez.
What is going to happen today is that
you'll be hearing the opening statements.
[Pamela] The day
that we did opening statements,
I was coming into the courthouse,
and people were filming me.
And I just thought,
"What the hell have I gotten myself into?"
And I went in the bathroom and threw up.
The only time I've ever thrown up
during a trial
or before a trial or anything.
Having media there was a nightmare.
You don't have that
in a normal m*rder trial.
[tense music playing]
[Weisberg] We'll now proceed
with opening statements,
first from the prosecution
and then the defense.
Thank you, Your Honor. And good morning.
What I'm going to outline here
is an overview
of what the people anticipate
the evidence will show.
On September the 8th of 1989,
19 days after the killings,
a life insurance policy,
which had been procured earlier
by Jose Menendez,
was paid to the defendants.
The policy, cumulatively,
was for $650,000.
We will prove to you
that Lyle Menendez planned this m*rder
and then set off to spend the money,
which he had acquired
through the killings of his parents.
This m*rder was unlawful,
unjustified, and wholly premeditated.
And that but for a few mistakes they made,
this was almost the perfect m*rder.
[Pamela] The only reason
I'm doing this after 33 years
is that that poor woman
that gave birth to both of them
was treated like a doormat
by her husband and her sons,
and she was slaughtered
like a wild animal inside of her own home.
[Weisberg] Is the defense ready
to proceed?
- [Jill] We are.
- All right, Ms. Lansing.
The only thing that you are
going to have to focus on in this trial
is why it happened.
And what we will prove to you
is it was done out of fear.
They were afraid of Jose Menendez,
and they were afraid of Kitty Menendez.
This trial will take you
behind the facade of the rich houses,
the fancy cars, the wealthy friends,
and impressive social engagements.
Jose Menendez, he was aggressive,
he was talented,
he was a charismatic, powerful man.
Lyle's violent experiences with his father
had been for the most part
when he was young.
If you didn't swim well enough,
you were held underwater.
When Jose took off his belt,
someone was going to get beaten.
You didn't know who,
and you didn't know why.
He reveled in his sadism.
In 1986,
Kitty Menendez discovered
that her husband had been having an affair
for approximately eight years.
She was leaving suicide notes
for her sons.
She was threatening to poison the family.
A crazy woman got even crazier.
And they knew that these were parents
who could k*ll their children.
[Leslie] Erik Menendez will tell you
the entire painful and difficult
and complicated story of his life.
The origin of this k*lling
was a lifetime of abuse
at the hands of those same parents.
Unlike the alleged crime
that the prosecution here presents,
those crimes occurred in total secrecy.
No police were called.
No crime scene photographs were taken.
He k*lled his parents because
he could no longer endure their abuse
and had to stop it.
He fired every round in his g*n at them.
Because his parents were wealthy,
the prosecution tells you
he did it for the money.
What do they say when poor kids k*ll?
[Weisberg] Counsel,
now you're arguing again.
I'm done, Your Honor.
[music fades]
[Alan] Initially,
the Menendezes were seen from the outside
as the perfect family.
Jose was a successful businessman.
Kitty was the caring mother
who kept the whole family together.
Lyle was at an Ivy League school,
and not only an Ivy League school,
but at Princeton.
Erik was a tennis star.
From the outside,
they had the picture
of the classic first-generation-American,
do-everything-make-good
wonderful-American success story.
If you only saw the surface story.
["Guaguanc" by Amores De Mentira playing]
[on phone]
[man speaking Spanish]
- [whistle blowing]
- [horn blaring]
["Guaguanc" continues]
[indistinct chatter]
[on phone]
[unsettling music playing]
[unsettling music continues]
[engine roaring]
[movie projector whirring]
[movie projector whirring]
[upbeat music playing]
[music fades]
["Hold Me" by Menudo playing]
Nobody does it better than Hertz.
[on phone]
[female singer in ad]
Hertz, the Superstar
You know it.
["Hold Me" continues]
[on phone]
[TV host] There are thousands and
thousands of young people outside,
all of them out there for probably
one of the hottest singing groups
in the entire world.
Ladies and gentlemen,
here they are, Menudo.
Since I felt as strong
As I feel for you
I just want you to hold me
Let me show you
How love can make
Our dreams come true...
[on phone]
[somber music playing]
[Robert] From the outside,
this was the perfect all-American family.
And behind the gates of that mansion,
it was a different story.
[on phone]
[music continues]
Dr. L. Jerome Oziel.
- [stenographer] Spell your last name.
- O-Z-I-E-L.
- [Weisberg] All right, Mr. Kuriyama.
- Thank you, Your Honor.
So the case broke open
because of the wackiest,
weirdest, most unusual
turn of circumstances
anyone could ever have imagined.
And if anyone had written
this for a script in Hollywood,
the Hollywood people
would have gone, "No way."
When Erik was a juvenile,
he had been involved in a burglary.
[Pamela] As a result
of doing these burglaries,
their then attorney,
he did what all lawyers would do.
He sent him to a shrink.
Erik had gone to see
a therapist named Dr. Jerome Oziel.
And then after the murders,
he had started to see him again.
[Dr. Oziel] I and any therapist,
um, carries with him or with her
at all times
hundreds or thousands of people's secrets.
And it is... it's a sacred obligation
to preserve those secrets.
[Kuriyama] Mr. Oziel,
would you describe what occurred
as Erik Menendez arrived at your office?
Erik came in,
and he was, uh... he was extremely agitated
and extremely depressed.
He'd lost a lot of weight.
Uh, he had had some suicidal ideation.
At some point in the session,
he asked me to take a walk with him.
Erik told me, uh, things about his father
and... and how his father
was a... a great man.
And then we headed back to the office.
And right before we entered,
he leaned back against,
as I recall, a... a parking meter
that was in front
of the office door and said, um,
"We did it."
Um, I don't know if he said,
"We k*lled our parents."
But I asked him, "You...
You mean you k*lled your parents?"
He said, "Yes."
[tense music playing]
Erik began describing
in pretty elaborate detail
exactly, uh, what happened.
The father had just been
completely dominating
and was impossible to please,
had perfectionistic standards,
and also that he had been
very controlling and very damaging,
um, to their mother
and that she also was miserable.
The reason that the mother
was included in the plan was basically
they couldn't find a way
not to include her in the plan.
The mother would have been a witness,
number one.
Number two, they didn't believe
that the mother could have survived
emotionally anyway without the father.
And three, they thought
the mother was so miserable
that it was, and this is not Erik's words,
sort of like a euthanasia.
[tense music continues]
[on phone]
[Shelley] Oziel goes into
this really sick plan.
And he wants to get
their confessions on tape.
[on phone]
[Pamela] Could you please describe
his demeanor
when he came into the office?
Uh, he was extremely upset,
um, threatened,
threatening, menacing.
[on phone]
[Pamela] And did you tell
Lyle and Erik Menendez
why you had taken this precaution?
Yes, I did.
[Pamela] What was your reasoning
that you told them?
[Dr. Oziel] That there was a strong threat
to my life.
He laughed, and he said
that I should've felt threatened
because immediately after the session,
he and Erik had sat
in Erik's, uh, new Jeep.
And the first statement
that Lyle had made to Erik was,
"Now how do we k*ll Oziel?"
[on phone]
Oziel then told people,
well, he told his girlfriend
and his wife what had happened.
[reporter] She's Judalon Smyth.
Judalon Smyth claims
that she and Oziel were lovers
and that he asked her
to eavesdrop during a session
in which the Menendez brothers allegedly
confessed to their parents' m*rder.
The girlfriend then goes to the police
because she was mad at her boyfriend
because she said he had r*ped her.
And, oh, by the way,
he is the psychiatrist
for the Menendez brothers,
and they confessed they did it
and threatened to k*ll him.
It was an aside.
I tried to give the information that I had
that would, you know...
lead them to be able to make an arrest.
Judalon Smyth was originally
a patient of Dr. Oziel.
So right there he's got
a dual relationship, which is unethical.
[Pamela] Ms. Smyth, your main motivation
was that you wanted the police
and the district attorney's office
to arrest Dr. Oziel
and to prosecute him, correct?
Yes. He had abducted me from my home.
He had drugged me.
He had... He had forced me to stay
in his home against my will.
He had threatened my life.
She said Dr. Oziel became involved
with the Menendez brothers
and told her about it.
And then to keep her quiet,
he drugged her
and kept her hostage, essentially.
It was like watching
a soap opera for a living.
It was comic relief.
It was not to be believed.
[laughs]
Not only in terms of testimony,
but in terms of,
"People really act like this?"
[laughs]
[Pamela] While he's waiting to testify,
the AG calls me up and says,
"Well, Dr. Oziel is
gonna lose his license."
And I said, "Could you wait a couple weeks
before you make him lose his license?"
Anyway, put on Dr. Oziel because
I did want to get the tapes at some point.
It ended up
in the California Supreme Court
on the issue of these tapes,
whether or not the facts were sufficient
to get a waiver
of the psychotherapist patient privilege.
We got those tapes
at the end of the trial.
We didn't have them
until the end of the trial.
[tense music playing]
[on phone]
On the morning of one
of these, um, closed-door hearings,
the LA County Sheriff's Office
released a statement
that said Erik and Lyle Menendez
had tried to escape that morning.
[somber music playing]
So the Sheriff's Department
went to each brother's cell,
and they were allowed to do a search.
In the course
of searching the brothers' cells,
the sheriff's deputies found
a 17-page letter
in Erik's cell
that Lyle had written to Erik.
And at the end of the letter,
Lyle had written in big letters,
"Destroy this after you read it."
[somber music continues]
[on phone]
[somber music continues]
I REFUSE TO GIVE UP FOR DADS SAKE.
HE IS WATCHING
AND I WILL NOT DISAPOINT HIM
WE DID NOT DO ANYTHING FOR THE MONEY
[Robert] Two weeks later,
the sheriff's department
quietly put out a statement.
"Gee, sorry.
Erik and Lyle never tried to escape."
"My bad."
[on phone]
[pensive music playing]
WE ALONE KNOW THE TRUTH
I need to read your handwriting.
What is that?
[on phone]
When you got arrested,
I didn't know anybody,
and I didn't know who to hire,
and nobody really does,
and I just got lucky.
[on phone]
[pensive music playing]
[Leslie] When you approached
your first session with Erik Menendez,
was it your expectation that
you would try to get information from him
as you usually do?
Yes.
[Leslie] And were you able to do that?
No, I was not.
[tense music playing]
When Leslie Abramson called me
and asked me to help her
because she could not figure out
why the crime occurred,
my impression initially
was that they were two rich kids
that just knocked off
their parents for the money.
But my experience told me
there's got to be more to this case.
What I found in interviewing Erik
was that he was so depressed,
so distraught,
that I could hardly get
any information out of him.
[on phone]
[music ends]
He kept rambling on about his father,
and I tried to get him to stop.
And he wouldn't stop.
He didn't do what I wanted him to do.
He just kept crying
and telling me how wonderful his dad was.
And that went on for the first
two, three, four hours that I saw him.
I... I couldn't control him.
[intriguing music playing]
In my mind, I'm thinking
as all the other lawyers and experts are,
"But you k*lled them!"
"I mean, if they were so wonderful
why did you k*ll them?" [laughs]
[man] Jill Lansing,
who was Lyle Menendez's attorney,
called me, explained that there was
a case that might involve child abuse.
And so, in fact, I agreed to conduct
an evaluation of Mr. Lyle Menendez.
[on phone]
And then I would also
talk to other family members.
I talked to relatives trying
to get a sense of Lyle and the family.
[pensive music playing]
Lyle and Erik and I formed a bond.
We were like the Three Musketeers.
It's the only time they ever had fun
was when we were all by ourselves.
One time Jose put Lyle
on a kitchen counter
and prompted Lyle to jump off,
and he was going to catch him.
As Lyle did so, Jose backed off
and let him fall to the ground,
telling him that
you can never trust anybody.
[man] We were having a family gathering,
and Jose stood up, uh,
grab him and just looked at him.
He looked very scared.
[Leslie] And what happened after that?
[Peter] Jose hit Lyle
with his closed fist.
- [Leslie] Did he seem to hit him hard?
- [Peter] Yes, he did.
[Leslie] Lyle would've been
about five years old?
Yes. Yes.
[on phone]
I couldn't find anyone
to say anything nice
about Jose Menendez
except for his secretary.
And everybody else had
just these awful stories about him
and what a monster he was.
The loss of Jose Menendez in my mind
was an actual plus for mankind.
Jose Menendez was
a really awful man, okay?
And he raised two sons capable of m*rder,
so there you go.
[intriguing music playing]
[Dr. Conte] Lyle idealized his dad.
Thought his dad was a powerful person.
And so Lyle described a situation
where he was a favorite child.
In some ways trying
to be a little Dad, a little Jose,
but not being as competent
or skillful as Dad, but trying.
I think that the older brother
was much more like the father.
More aggressive,
dominating,
kind of manipulative.
The younger brother was
much more like the mother.
More emotional,
could become hysterical at times.
So that was
a contrast in their personalities.
[Leslie] Did you ever see
your brother, um...
have Erik hold on to a... a bar
and lift him with it?
Yes, I did see that.
He would just pull it up and hold him up
and see how much
he could stand without crying
and say, "I tell you to stop crying.
Why can't you stop crying?"
And he kept on yelling at the kid,
and of course, Erik would cry more.
- [Leslie] Now this is when Erik is two?
- [Marta] Yeah.
[Leslie] And did you see this on more
than one occasion during that week?
[Marta] Yes, I saw it twice on that week.
[Leslie] Now describe what you saw
with respect to Lyle.
[Marta] He was very proud of Lyle
whenever Lyle was
doing something competitive
against any one of the other cousins,
and he loved the fact
that Lyle didn't cry,
even if they were hitting him.
Jose used to induce
that type of competitiveness,
fighting type of relationship,
which I personally disliked.
[on phone]
[TV host] Ann Burgess is
a professor of psychiatric nursing
at the University of Pennsylvania.
What's the profile, Ms. Burgess?
Is there a profile
of the... of the violent family member?
There's no really general profile.
There are some common threads.
In the family, very often,
they themselves may have been abused.
[somber music playing]
I... I spent most of my time
interviewing Erik.
Loved his parents.
Uh, regretted... He said, "Ten seconds
after this, I regretted what we did."
[somber music continues]
[on phone]
Uh...
[music fades]
One of the techniques that I use,
certainly with children,
but also with persons
that have committed a crime,
is I ask them to draw it.
[ominous music playing]
It's a non-leading way
of getting some information.
That's what I did with Erik. I said,
"Let's start with that week before."
He did about 12 or 14 frames.
It was a mini Rorschach,
I guess you could say,
to... to have him draw it out.
And I think it was helpful for him
to be able to put it on paper.
Because he hadn't really
talked about this.
I did talk to Leslie Abramson, of course,
and I had said there has to be
something going on in the family
for this to have happened.
That this is not something that,
you know, they need money
or... or any other motive, or revenge,
or all of the other motives
that we could think of.
I said, "Something is
very wrong in the family."
Over a period of week after week
after week after week,
month after month after month,
slowly... bits and pieces
about the perfect family
began to disintegrate.
[tense music playing]
[on phone]
[reporter] So far, 25-year-old Lyle
and 22-year-old Erik
have sat quietly in court,
knowing they could be
sentenced to death if convicted.
Both brothers are expected
to testify in the case.
They'll give their version
of why they admittedly fired
15 shotgun blasts into their parents
here at the family's
Beverly Hills mansion.
Defense attorneys say Lyle could
begin telling that much-awaited story
by the end of the week.
[tense music playing]
[on phone]
Joseph Lyle Menendez.
M-E-N-E-N-D-E-Z.
[on phone]
[Jill] Once you moved to Monsey,
did sports become
an important part of your life?
Well, they were everything to my dad,
and that was my whole life
at that time.
[Jill] And was doing what
your father wanted of you important?
[Lyle] That's what made him happy,
and that's what I wanted to do.
[Jill] Why'd you want to make him happy?
So he would love me.
[Jill] And between the ages
of six and eight,
did your father have
sexual contact with you?
[inhales deeply] Yes.
[Jill] And how did it start?
[breathes deeply]
We would have these talks,
and he would show me.
And he would, uh, fondle me,
and he would ask me
to do the same with him.
And I would... I would touch him,
and we would undress.
Um, it would...
He would put me on my knees, and...
he would guide me, all my movements.
And I would, um...
uh, have oral sex with him.
[Jill] At some point,
did he do some other things to you?
[Lyle sniffling]
Yes.
Uh... He r*ped me.
- [sobbing]
- [Jill] Did you cry?
Yes.
[Jill] Did you bleed?
Yes.
[Jill] Were you scared?
[sniffling] Very.
[Jill] Did you tell your mom?
[Lyle] I told her
that he keeps touching me.
- [Jill] What did your mom say?
- [Lyle sobbing]
[exhales deeply] She told me to stop it
and that I was exaggerating.
[breathes deeply]
[shakily] And that my dad has to
punish me when I do things wrong.
And she... she told me that he loved me.
[Lyle sobs]
[tense music playing]
[on phone]
[Jill] So during the time between
six and eight when this was going on,
did you do something to your brother?
[Lyle sobbing]
Yes.
[Jill] What did you do to your brother?
[Lyle exhales] I took him out
to the woods,
and I played with Erik... in the same way.
And I'm sorry.
[sobbing]
I'm sorry.
[Lyle sniffles, exhales]
[on phone]
[Hazel] The first day of Lyle's testimony,
there were many audience members
and jurors with tears in their eyes
because it was so... emotional.
I mean, I thought either he is
the best actor I've ever seen in my life
or he's telling the absolute truth.
[Pamela] You could hear a pin drop.
It was very compelling.
It was very novel.
Okay, I'll tell you
exactly what I thought. "Oh sh*t."
You know, that sums it all up.
'Cause it was pretty good.
People have to be held accountable
for what they do
regardless of how they're feeling
because there are a lot of abused people
who don't commit crimes.
[reporter] The judge has cautioned
the brothers' lawyers
that a history of abuse does not make
a legal defense for m*rder.
So the attorneys hope
the testimony of Lyle and later Erik
will convince jury members
the brothers truly feared for their lives,
k*lling their parents in self-defense.
Erik Galen Menendez. M-E-N-E-N-D-E-Z.
[Leslie] Are you aware of
the idiosyncrasies of that microphone?
If you get too close, it pops.
You know that?
Yes.
[Leslie] If you get too far away,
we don't hear you.
- That's right.
- [Leslie] Okay.
[on phone]
[Leslie] Mr. Menendez, where do you live?
Los Angeles County Jail.
[Leslie] And how long
have you lived there?
Three and a half years.
[Leslie] Mr. Menendez,
during the summer of 1989,
were you being
sexually molested by your father?
[inhales deeply] Yes.
[Leslie] And when did that begin?
How old were you?
I was six years old.
[Leslie] From the time you were six
when you say
your father started to molest you,
how long did that go on?
[Erik exhales] Twelve years.
[on phone]
And can you tell us, what do you believe
was the originating cause
of you and your brother
sh**ting your parents?
Me telling Lyle that, uh...
[inhales deeply]
[exhales deeply]
[Leslie] You telling Lyle what?
[exhales]
[sobbing]
[Leslie] Was it you telling Lyle
about something that was happening?
My dad... [sobbing]
- [Leslie] Okay.
- [mumbles, sobs]
My dad...
That my dad had been molesting me.
[breathes shakily]
[Leslie] This would be a good place.
[Weisberg] All right. We'll take
our recess until tomorrow at nine o'clock.
[pensive music playing]
- [Weisberg] Good morning.
- Good morning.
[Weisberg] We're ready to resume
with the testimony.
You may resume your direct examination.
[Leslie] Thank you, Your Honor.
Now at this time in your life,
Mr. Menendez, when you lived in Monsey,
um, and you were about six years old?
[Erik] Yes.
How would you describe
your relationship with your father?
Um...
He, uh...
He used to, um,
come into my room,
and he had me take off my underwear.
He would massage my genitals.
- [Leslie] How did he treat you?
- Um, he was... he was kind.
Uh, he never said anything negative to me.
Uh, he told me that I was
part of the family and that...
that I belonged and that
this was... this was something between us,
and what he said is
that this would stop if I told anyone.
[Leslie] Um, and did you want it to stop?
- No.
- [Leslie] Why?
Because it was the only time
I got to, uh, spend alone with my dad.
It was the only time
I got to be with him and...
and for him to be nice and caring with me.
[Leslie] Mr. Menendez, can you look
to your right to the pictures of yourself
that are on that board?
[Erik] Uh-huh.
[Leslie] How old were you
in those pictures?
[Erik] I think I was ten or eleven.
[Leslie] So at the time
those photographs of you were taken,
you had already been r*ped
by your father, had you not?
[Erik] Yes.
[Leslie] Did you ever say no?
[Erik] Yes.
[Leslie] How did he react
to your saying no?
He stormed out of that room.
[Leslie] So what happened next?
He came back with a knife.
[Leslie] Now, this knife,
Mr. Menendez, is a...
- I think it's like that.
- [Leslie] Yeah?
- If not bigger. I remember it being huge.
- [Leslie] Okay.
And when he came back with the knife,
what did he do with it, if anything?
[Erik] He put it on my neck.
He put his hand on my head
and put the knife on my neck.
[Leslie] Did he threaten you with it?
- Yes.
- [Leslie] What did he say?
He said, "I should k*ll you,
and next time I will."
- [Leslie] And did you believe him?
- Yes.
He started using, uh, different tools.
[Leslie] What do you mean by tools?
He had this wooden, uh...
It was about this long,
and it had a little knob at the end,
and it was roundish, and, uh...
[inhales deeply]
Uh, he would tell me
to use that on myself.
[Leslie] What part of your body
were you supposed to use this thing on?
[pensive music playing]
My, uh...
My butt.
He told me he wanted me to,
um, massage his p*nis with my mouth.
I had to give him a massage
on my knees until he started to, uh...
have an orgasm.
[Leslie] And had he ever done that before
while you were giving him a mouth massage?
No. Um...
So I was about to pull away 'cause
I didn't know what was gonna happen
because we weren't on a bed
and I was just kneeling down.
And he said, "No. Swallow."
And he held my head to him.
[pensive music playing]
He would say, "What's gonna happen
to you if you tell anyone?"
And I remember the first time I said,
"That you will hurt me."
And, uh, he said, "Wrong."
And so I hit myself.
And he said,
"What's gonna happen if you tell someone?"
And I said, "You'll k*ll me."
And he said, "Right."
[pensive music continues]
[Dr. Conte] The myths back then
about who a sex offender was
didn't fit the Menendez family.
And a powerful,
highly successful executive
was not looked upon as the kind of person
who would sexually abuse their children.
But looking at these attractive,
well-dressed white guys
just doesn't match the public's perception
of what a victim should look like.
And there's a natural tendency
to discount it.
It just doesn't fit with
how we think of privileged people.
["Storm Coming" by Corcione playing]
The defense made a good argument.
It made me start questioning
what I had already started to believe.
When you have a doubt,
that's where the law comes in
and says you need
to give them that benefit of the doubt.
How do you know they were sexually abused?
Have you ever? I want to know.
I just want to know, okay?
Do you know what fear is like?
[woman] How do you know what went on?
- [indistinct arguing]
- [host] Hold on a second.
The defense used
psychological manipulation of the jurors
by putting nice-looking,
wealthy young men in sweaters
crying on the stand.
The sweater defense is so pathetic to me.
It didn't work for Dan Rather
when he was trying to soften his image.
Why didn't the Menendez brothers leave?
They'd grown up. They should've left
if they were being abused.
[audience laughing]
But I've been watching a lot of Court TV.
Riveted... Riveted
to the Menendez brothers trial.
I don't get a chance to watch much TV.
Oh, these two arrogant brothers
are gonna fry.
[audience laughing, applauding]
I don't buy it. Please.
[audience laughing]
Did you feel sympathy
for the Menendez brothers?
Um...
["Storm Coming" continues playing]
Not particularly, no.
They've made a Menendez sitcom.
[audience laughing]
It will premiere in just a few weeks.
They've asked me
to run the opening for you now.
Well, here it is. Take a look.
["Storm Coming" continues playing]
[Joan] I called Jay Leno's show one time
to protest them making fun of them.
And that's all they did.
They just made fun of them.
I was told we were public property now,
and they could do what they wanted.
I called The Tonight Show
and said, "Can you please stop?" [laughs]
That didn't go anywhere, but...
[song ends]
[reporter] The defense
used witness after witness
to try and portray Jose and Kitty Menendez
as cruel, a*usive, and demanding parents.
A cousin testified that in 1976,
eight-year-old Lyle
told her of molestation.
[Jill] What happened?
[Diane] Lyle and Erik and I
had been downstairs,
and the boys had been called up
to get ready for bed.
I stayed and went into my bedroom.
And a while later, Lyle came down.
I thought he was there to say good night.
[Jill] And what happened next?
He proceeded to...
indicate to me
by touching himself, uh, down...
and... and saying that his dad and him
had been touching each other down there.
He was afraid that his dad
was going to do so that night.
Do the very same thing that night.
And what happened after that?
[Diane] I went and got Kitty
and, uh, brought her downstairs
and told her what was going on.
[Jill] What happened when Kitty came down?
Uh... She didn't believe me.
I followed her downstairs,
and she took Lyle by the arm
and took him right back upstairs.
Never said a word to me.
Nothing was ever discussed afterwards.
I just fe... felt like, well,
nobody else is doing anything.
I must have been wrong.
Then Lyle and Erik k*lling their parents
made me wonder again.
You know, maybe I wasn't wrong then.
[contemplative music playing]
[Dr. Vicary] Everything in the family
was coming to a head.
The younger brother
was so at the end of his rope
that he was thinking about
k*lling himself 'cause he didn't want
to endure the r*pes of his father anymore,
and he had hope
that if he went to Stanford,
that maybe he would have
some distance between the father.
But the father told him,
"You're not going to Stanford,
you're going to UCLA,
and you're gonna be living here."
[on phone]
[music fades]
[Lyle] I could tell something was wrong.
You know, he was basically shaking,
and I asked him what was the matter.
And, uh, at some point,
you know, he couldn't tell me,
and he just started crying.
And I said, "You can tell me, what is it?"
And, uh, he told me that those things
with his dad were still going on.
And I said, "What things?"
He said, "You know what things." Uh...
And so I sat down with him
and told him to relax, and let's talk.
And, uh, I was very shaky myself,
just from the... the idea that,
you know, my dad was still doing this.
And, um, basically, uh, trying
to think about what we could do.
[tense music playing]
Lyle, being the macho,
dominant, aggressive figure,
went to confront the father.
[Lyle] My dad, he came into the study.
You know, he had a cigarette lit.
I told him he was a...
a f*cking sick person.
I knew everything that was going on
between him and Erik
and that he wasn't gonna
touch my brother again.
I told him I would tell the police
and that I would tell the family.
He just said, "You listen to me."
"What I do with my son
is none of your business."
"And we're gonna forget
this conversation ever took place."
[Robert] There was
another very heated argument
in which Kitty revealed
that she had known about Erik,
the abuse, all the time.
And she said to Lyle,
"What, do you think I'm stupid?"
She had known everything
that had been going on,
and she hadn't done anything
to protect her sons.
[tense music continues]
[on phone]
[music fades]
The fact that they didn't just have
a dad that was doing this
but a mother that knew about it
and didn't help them,
I don't understand
how she didn't protect him. I...
[spluttering] I can't even explain it.
[on phone]
[brooding music playing]
We talked about...
I think I was the one that said that we...
weren't just gonna stay around
waiting to die.
We were gonna try and get
some ways of defending ourselves.
[Erik] On Friday,
our idea was just to get the g*ns.
That was what we wanted to do on Friday.
[Jill] Did you end up
in a g*n store in San Diego?
Yes. We decided we would go ahead
and buy shotguns, um,
and we felt that... we felt that
if we were gonna get attacked,
it would be at night.
[tense music playing]
I went in the house,
and, uh, I wanted to tell my mom
that we were leaving.
But my dad came in
as soon as he heard the argument.
He spoke to my brother
and told him to go upstairs to his room
and wait for him.
[on phone]
My dad left and went in the den.
I thought they were going ahead
with their plan to k*ll us.
I ran upstairs to tell my brother
that it was happening now.
[on phone]
[Lyle] We had the ammunition.
We were just loading as fast as possible.
We just burst through the doors.
I started firing.
[Leslie] In what direction?
In front of me.
[Leslie] What was in front of you?
My parents.
[g*nshots]
[Jill] Do you remember firing
a very close shot at your father?
[exhales] I don't remember
the shot, really.
But I... remember the picture.
[on phone]
[Leslie] What was it that happened
after the sh**ting ended?
[Erik] I heard a noise from my mom.
[inhales deeply]
Uh, I ran around and shot my mom.
[Jill] Where did you sh**t her?
[inhales deeply]
I just reached over, and I shot her close.
[g*n fires]
[Erik] I started to scream.
I couldn't handle what I was seeing.
[tense music playing]
[Lyle sobbing]
I dropped my g*n,
and I went into the foyer.
[gulps]
[inhales deeply] And I sat
against the wall.
[Jill] Where did you go from there?
[Lyle] I think we went
to the movie theater.
We decided that we should go
and get tickets.
And then we also decided
we obviously had to get rid of the g*ns.
I really felt there was a small chance
that, uh, they weren't gonna
figure out what happened.
[Jill] After that,
did you go back to the house?
[Lyle] Yes.
And I believe I went upstairs
to call the police.
- [operator] Are they still there?
- [Lyle] Yes.
- [operator] The people?
- [Lyle sobbing] No, no, no.
[operator speaking]
[Lyle speaking]
[operator speaking]
[Lyle speaking]
- [indistinct chatter]
- [Lyle sobbing]
[siren wailing]
We came out of the house,
and they just took over.
[siren wailing]
[siren continues wailing]
[indistinct radio chatter]
[tense music playing]
[music fades]
[Weisberg] All right,
in regards to the defense?
[Leslie] Yes, Your Honor. At this time,
Erik Menendez's defense rests.
In regards to the Lyle Menendez?
[Jill] At this time,
the Lyle Menendez defense rests.
[Weisberg] All right,
the defendants have rested.
[tense music playing]
A lot of people who sympathize
with the Menendez brothers
say it was self-defense.
Well, it wasn't from a legal perspective.
It was imperfect self-defense.
Imperfect self-defense. I-M, imperfect.
Meaning it's not perfect self-defense
because the normal definition
of self-defense
is that the defendants believe
that they were about to be assaulted
in some sort of serious manner.
And they responded
in order to protect themselves.
On the other hand,
imperfect self-defense,
the defendants honestly believe
they were in danger.
But a reasonable person
just pulled off the streets,
looking at it
as if it was a motion picture,
would've said,
"Well, that's not reasonable."
"They're not really in danger
at this moment."
Which means that someone can be
so in fear of their lives
at that very moment,
but mistaken,
that they k*ll
in imperfect self-defense.
And if the jury believes
that they acted unreasonably
but in an honest fear
that their father was going to k*ll them
or hurt them severely,
it gives them a mitigation from m*rder
down to what we call
voluntary manslaughter.
[music continues]
[on phone]
[tense music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
[Weisberg] You've heard
all of the evidence
and seen all of the evidence in the case.
The argument will proceed
first with prosecution
then defense.
[Pamela] Thank you.
These two men were of age.
Let's say that Mr. and Mrs. Menendez
had thrown them out
and said, "That's it.
I'm tired of it. You're out of here."
These defendants had
no right to live in that house.
It was not their house.
It was their parents' house.
And there are many people
whose parents say,
"When you turn 18, you're out of here."
[on phone]
[Pamela] We are not here
to try Mr. and Mrs. Menendez
for being bad parents.
We are not here to try Jose Menendez
for being an alleged, not a convicted,
but an alleged child molester.
This is a very straightforward case.
When these two people were sitting there
watching television,
and they got slaughtered by their sons.
Now the defense is
going to give you explanations
for why all these things
don't look as they do look.
It's kind of like if it walks like a duck
and it quacks like a duck
and it has feathers, it's a duck.
The defense is going to try to tell you
the duck in this case is really a donkey,
but that's not correct.
I'm telling you now
that whole defense was fabricated.
And it was done artfully,
but it was fabricated.
And if I were an immoral person,
I would have fabricated it
much the same way.
You need to decide what was going on
in Erik and Lyle Menendez's mind
that night
before you can decide
what kind of crime was committed.
The best that you can do
in this case from our perspective
is a manslaughter.
Because that is
an unreasonable k*lling in good faith.
And it is our suggestion to you
that that is what has occurred here.
[Alan] In first-degree m*rder,
they were looking at
life in prison without parole.
Second-degree m*rder,
under which a sentence if convicted
would've been less than that.
Or manslaughter,
under which they would have served
some significantly reduced sentence
and been out
in maybe, oh, five to ten years.
So that's what the defense
was really going for.
Either this is a m*rder,
because everything
we have told you is not true
and they k*lled for reasons unproven
but completely different than what we say,
in which case it is a k*lling with malice,
or it is a k*lling that resulted
from the things
that we have told you about,
and that it was done
under a state of fear.
And if that is true, there is no malice,
and it can only be manslaughter.
[tense music continues]
[reporter] It's been 14 weeks of defense.
Did they do what they... they set out to do,
do you think?
I think there's been a great deal
of distance created between our case,
which had to do with the murders,
and their case which had to do
with everything but the murders.
So, I think they succeeded in creating
distance between our evidence,
which is pretty good,
and when the jury is going to deliberate,
which is fairly soon.
[pensive music plays]
[Betty] It wasn't even a trial
of guilt or innocence
because the boys
had already confessed to it.
It was a question of degree.
[Hazel] I knew it was gonna be difficult,
because there were so many choices,
for us to agree on a choice.
[pensive music continues]
[Stanley] If even one juror doesn't agree
in a criminal case,
there's no verdict.
So it can be 11 to 1 either way, and
you might have to retry the case again.
Jurors have just broken for lunch.
They'll be back at work at about 1 p.m.
[reporter] The Menendez trial
in Los Angeles,
as jury deliberations continue
for more than a week now,
everybody is wondering what's going on.
[Hazel] My worst fear came to pass
when we made the mistake
of taking a show of hands.
All of the men raised their hands
in favor of first-degree m*rder.
And none of the women raised their hands.
So I knew that we had a battle
on our hands.
A battle of the sexes.
The men instantly,
instantly voted for... for m*rder.
I think the men had
a really hard time accepting the fact
that a young man
could possibly be abused by his father.
And the women were more... empathetic
in terms of understanding issues of abuse.
It was very emotional for me to think
that a child had been raised
the way that Erik had been raised.
And handled and treated that way.
And decided his only way
of having a better life
was to have one without
the parents in it.
[suspenseful music playing]
These jurors are
feeling tremendous pressure
about coming to
some kind of a conclusion about this.
[indistinct chatter]
[Hazel] We told the judge
that we were at an impasse.
And he said, "Okay, but try again."
And we did try again.
As long as you have jurors talking,
that they're not yelling and screaming
or at each other's throats,
there's always a possibility of a verdict.
[on phone]
[Hazel] We deliberated for a month.
A month.
[suspenseful music continues]
- [cameras clicking]
- [indistinct chatter]
[helicopter blades whirring]
Stay away from this area here. Hey! Back!
[Weisberg] I received your note
this morning,
and, um, let me just read it
into the record.
"We remain deadlocked
since our last report to you."
"We have been unable
to move closer to agreement
on any of the counts."
"If anything, we have become
more entrenched in our positions."
"A poll taken this morning
shows that the jury believes
there is no reasonable probability
of our reaching a verdict."
And therefore, uh, the court finds
that the jury is hopelessly deadlocked
and declares a mistrial.
[dramatic sting]
[reporter 1] Erik and Lyle's jury
split down the middle.
About half voted for m*rder
and half for manslaughter.
[reporter 2] With the Erik Menendez
jury deadlocked,
a mistrial has been declared in his case.
[reporter 3] The jurors in
the Lyle Menendez m*rder trial
have told the jury they are unable
to reach a verdict. Hopelessly deadlocked.
[pensive music playing]
I felt terrible
that we couldn't reach a verdict.
We all did.
I felt like, in a way,
it had been a big waste of time.
[juror] I do not think a decision
can be reached.
It's too divisive an issue.
There's too much information.
And I think the district attorney
should just end it.
[pensive music continues]
[Alan] The prosecutors
in this case understand,
in hindsight,
that they lost control of the trial.
I didn't win.
Okay? I didn't lose in the sense
that they didn't go home.
But I didn't win. And that was hard.
[on phone]
[indistinct chatter]
[music fades]
We are going to be
trying the case a second time.
Some cases take more than one opportunity.
And I am pleased that
at least we have that second opportunity.
Had they come back
with voluntary manslaughter,
you would've seen
an entirely different reaction from me
because I would've been
utterly disappointed.
[Pamela] I went on TV
and said I wouldn't retry this case.
I'd rather eat ground glass for a year.
That's how I felt.
They didn't want me,
and I didn't want them.
[reporter speaking]
I have every intention of
going forward with the death penalty, yes.
[tense music playing]
It was a very physically, emotionally,
and intellectually debilitating process.
Um, it was very, very difficult.
It's the hardest thing I've ever done.
I mean, it's been the strangest thing
I've ever been through. My mother died.
My son was born.
I moved. I went through all this stuff.
I haven't shed a tear in five months.
- Do you feel this is a victory for you?
- No.
I've already expressed my views
on that point.
A victory is when my client is free.
[Robert] The Menendez mistrials were
declared at the end of January of '94.
O.J. Simpson was arrested in June of '94.
[helicopter blades whirring]
- [tense music playing]
- [sirens wailing]
[reporter] O.J. Simpson
is sitting in the back seat,
and he has a g*n at his head.
[newsreader] Simpson was arrested
last night after leading police
on a dramatic chase through the city.
He's scheduled
to be arraigned early next week
on charges of murdering
his ex-wife and her friend.
[Robert] O.J. suddenly, you know,
took over all of the media.
O.J. was Menendez on steroids.
I always say we did the warm-up trial
for the O.J. Simpson spectacle.
O.J. today. O.J.
[Robert] I think the general public
had kind of forgotten
about Erik and Lyle Menendez.
They were much more enthralled
by the O.J. Simpson case at that point.
How do you plead to counts one and two?
Absolutely 100% not guilty.
[reporter] It's being called
the trial of the century,
and it could last up to six months.
[tense music playing]
[on phone]
Nobody does it better than Hertz.
[on phone]
[Shelley] Erik was in the celebrity part
of the prison with O.J.
And Lyle was on a different floor.
He was bored.
Really, his only sort of amusement
was to talk on the phone.
[pensive music playing]
[reporter] Norma Novelli is talking about
a controversial new book she's writing
about Lyle Menendez.
Novelli, a former confidante of Lyle's,
claims she talked with him
extensively in jail for the book.
[Robert] He would call her
at seven o'clock at night.
Norma at some point
started recording his phone calls.
[on tape]
[reporter] Norma Novelli taped
conversations with Lyle
over a two-and-a-half-year period.
During that time,
Lyle admitted he would be willing to lie
to help his case
when he felt
he had to counter damaging testimony
from psychologist Jerome Oziel.
[on tape]
The prosecution was coming out
between the two trials,
and they said, "The Norma Novelli tapes
are gonna bury Lyle Menendez."
I think it's pretty obvious
there's a serious credibility problem
with this witness.
It turned out none of the tapes
were ever admitted into the trial.
[on tape]
[Lyle chuckles]
I think she had a crush on Lyle,
which was really weird
since she was in her mid to late fifties
and Lyle was in his twenties.
[reporter] Robert Rand, who is writing
his own book about the Menendez case,
has known Norma Novelli for years.
At some point, uh, she became disenchanted
because of his interest in other women.
[reporter] Were you in love
with Lyle Menendez?
No, I wasn't.
[on phone]
[dramatic music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
[juror] We, the jury,
in the above entitled action,
find the defendant,
Orenthal James Simpson,
not guilty of the crime of m*rder.
[inaudible]
[reporter] You were very anxious
about the decision.
What do you think upon hearing it?
- Seriously? [clears throat]
- [reporter] Of course.
In a word?
Disgusting.
I don't agree with it.
I think he's guilty.
[reporter] Lose faith
in the justice system?
Um, no. It teaches me what money can buy.
Did the Simpson verdict
have an effect on your trial?
- Do you think?
- I don't know.
- But I cried when it came in.
- [Larry] You cried?
I cried in the Van Nuys courthouse.
[Larry] I thought all defense attorneys
wanted a not guilty.
No, I said this is bad for the boys.
And everybody else.
- [Larry] Why?
- It's going to be payback time.
[tense music playing]
[on phone]
[music continues]
It is the retrial
of Erik and Lyle Menendez.
The brothers, you'll recall,
are accused of the brutal shotgun m*rder
of their parents in
their Beverly Hills mansion back in 1989.
The second trial started within a week
or ten days of the O.J. Simpson acquittal.
Some people have suggested
that the timing on the second trial,
given that O.J. had just been acquitted,
is responsible for the different approach
taken by the prosecution
and the different approach
taken by the trial judge.
Judge Stanley Weisberg was embarrassed
and humiliated by the lack of verdicts
in the first Menendez trial.
People were calling
into radio stations and saying,
"What's wrong with that judge?"
And so he was determined
that he was gonna get
a conviction in the second trial.
The judge asked us to disregard
anything we knew coming into the trial.
I really didn't know what arguments
had been made in the first trial
and what evidence, um, had been presented.
[reporter] Judge Stanley Weisberg
this time
says he will limit
the number of experts and witnesses called
to support
the so-called abuse excuse defense.
[on phone]
I'm surprised he doesn't take out a r*fle
in the courtroom and sh**t him.
[Alan] The second trial was
very, very different from the first trial.
Number one, there was no television.
When there's a camera in the courtroom,
it changes the dynamic of everything.
Everyone thought that
this should be just a matter for the jury
rather than for a national audience.
[on phone]
The problem was that
because Lyle did not testify,
a lot of what lawyers would call
foundational testimony was not available.
And that left Lyle
in a very precarious position.
[Robert] The teachers and coaches
and family and friends
were never on the stand
in the second trial.
[on phone]
When the judge keeps out evidence
that Diane Vander Molen said
that Lyle said,
when he was eight years old,
"My dad's touching my p*nis,"
uh, and when the defense theory
is that Lyle has suffered sexual abuse
from his father,
uh, that's evidence
that just can't be kept out.
It just can't.
But it was.
[Stanley] Contradicting the decision
made in the first trial,
he did not give the jury the option
of finding manslaughter.
So the jury,
their choices are
basically m*rder or nothing.
[Andrew] It's an interesting thing
to consider
that the prosecution
doesn't have to prove a motive.
The prosecution has to prove
the elements of the crime were committed.
And the prosecution did that.
I've never been in this position before
where I was unable
to actually put on my case
and unable to get the instructions
that under all the case authority apply.
Let's be candid. Once the main theory
of defense doesn't go to the jury,
the case is over.
[Andrew] When the judge decided
what evidence we could consider,
we were given
either first-degree m*rder as an option
or no crime whatsoever.
We voted unanimously to convict.
[tense music playing]
[reporter 1] It took less than a week
for a jury to convict
Erik and Lyle Menendez
of first-degree m*rder
with special circumstances.
[reporter 2] The reaction from Los Angeles
District Attorney Gil Garcetti?
[woman] Whoo!
[reporter 2] A fist thrust into the air.
A much needed victory for the DA
after losing the O.J. Simpson case.
[Pamela] When the verdict came back,
I fell apart.
I was happy they were convicted,
but I fell apart because
they got convicted and I didn't do it.
The second jury convicted the brothers
because they saw
a completely different trial
that was engineered
to guarantee m*rder verdicts.
To show them so much less
makes it not fair to the brothers.
[on phone]
Tom, we've just heard only seconds ago
that the verdict is life without parole
for both Menendez brothers.
There's no way we could put them to death.
Even though that horrible crime happened
and what they did was horrible,
there was other things...
there are good things about them
that warrant their life.
[somber music playing]
[on phone]
[Barbara Walters] Erik and Lyle Menendez,
the infamous brothers.
Tonight, for the very first time
out of court, you will hear their story.
Tonight, watching our interview,
you can reach your own verdict about them.
It's important to you to stay together
when you get moved to the state prison?
Very important.
That is what's gotten us through
these six years.
There's a good probability
I will never see him again.
And...
And that, uh...
That I...
Some things that you cannot take
and there's some things
that you can endure.
Uh...
With everything taken away,
it would be the last thing you can take.
[on phone]
[pensive music playing]
[door buzzing]
[Alan] The brothers took an appeal
to the federal court system.
A three-judge panel said
their appeal was without merit.
And that's the end of it.
There's... There's no further grounds
for appeal.
[music fades]
[on phone]
[unsettling music playing]
[music fades]
[wind whooshing]
[bird cawing]
[on phone]
[gentle music playing]
[gentle music continues]
[Betty] He learned that he had
a real talent for painting.
Before that,
he was lucky to even draw stick figures.
I got a package from him.
We... We often wrote letters back and forth.
And this time,
this big rolled-up paper came.
I opened it,
and it was a beautiful oil painting.
[somber music playing]
[on phone]
Um...
[hopeful music playing]
The Beverly Hills brothers
convicted of k*lling their parents
have been reunited
in a Southern California prison.
This week, Erik Menendez moved
into the same housing unit
as his brother, Lyle.
[on phone]
[music fades]
There are 200 men
standing in our studio audience right now.
Each one is holding
a picture of themselves
at the age when they say
they were first sexually abused.
[contemplative music playing]
[on phone]
[contemplative music continues]
[music fades]
[Robert] In the fall of 2020,
my son came to me, and he said,
"Dad, you have to take a look at TikTok."
"It's full of Menendez brothers videos."
And I was like, "What?"
[upbeat music playing]
I went to TikTok
and found thousands of videos.
Most of them are becoming
very well-educated on the case.
[Marianne Nafsu] People think
that these two brothers
should be out of prison by now.
The reason they decided
to take their parents' lives that day
is because they feared
for their own lives.
They didn't k*ll their parents for money.
They were in fear of their lives.
They just wanted the abuse to stop.
And the fact that there is
a completely new generation
that wasn't even born
at the time of the first trial
that now supports the brothers
is remarkable.
[woman] Millions of young people
are looking back online
and they're reexamining old news stories
from the '90s and 2000s particularly
and looking at them
with a fresh set of eyes.
These kids went through
some horrible things,
and it wasn't right what happened to them.
[on phone]
[upbeat music continues]
[all chanting]
[Hazel] The Menendez case preceded
the Me Too movement.
Society's understanding more about abuse
makes more people believe them.
If they were tried today, I think
the most they'd get is manslaughter.
People are looking at the case
with fresh eyes,
with a new understanding
of what battered person syndrome is.
Boy, would I like to believe that.
They're looking at it and saying,
"Well, wait a minute,
there's an injustice here."
The only reason we're doing this special
is because of the TikTok movement
to free the Menendi.
If that's how we're gonna try cases now,
why don't we just, like, have a poll?
You present the facts,
everybody gets to vote on TikTok,
and then we decide who gets to go home.
Your beliefs are not facts.
They're just beliefs.
And by the way,
all you TikTok people, I'm armed.
We got g*ns all over the house.
So don't mess with me.
[somber music playing]
[on phone]
[somber music continues]
[music fades]
[pensive music playing]
[music ends]
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Menendez Brothers, The (2024)
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