The Menendez Massacre: 31 years ago two brothers murdered their parents, the crime and the trial captivated a nation
Exactly 31 years ago, on August 20, the double homicide of Jose and Mary (aka Kitty) Menendez took over the national headlines after the multimillionaires' bodies were found in a bloody crime scene by the police. According to reports, Joseph Lyle Menendez — who went by his middle name — had called the police saying, "Someone killed my parents," after returning home from a screening of 'Batman' and the annual "Taste of LA" festival at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.
However, as the police conducted their investigations, the brothers' suspicious behavior soon made them the center of the investigation and an unlikely source confirmed the brothers' involvement.
Police encountered a savage crime scene when they went to the Menendez home in Beverly Hills. Lyle and his brother, Erik Menendez had entered the den carrying shotguns. Their father, Jose, was shot in the back of the head with a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun, according to a 1989 report by The Los Angeles Times. Kitty woke up because of the shots and tried to run away.
However, she was shot in the leg, causing her to slip on her own blood and fall, following which she was shot several times in the arm, chest, and face, leaving her unrecognizable. Both Jose and Kitty were also shot in the kneecaps to misdirect the investigation and make the murders appear to be mob hits.
Investigation
In the days following the murder, the Menendez brothers began to live up their lives, spending an estimated $700,000 on various luxuries between the murders and their arrests, according to a report by Vanity Fair. Lyle bought a Rolex watch, a Porsche Carrera, and a Buffalo wing restaurant in New Jersey, while Erik hired a full-time tennis coach and competed in a series of tournaments in Israel. They also drove around Los Angeles in their late mother's Mercedes Benz SL convertible, went on trips to the Caribbean and London, and enjoyed expensive meals.
By now, the police were beginning to suspect that the brothers had something to do with their parents' murders since the brothers had clear financial motives. Vanity Fair also reported that the police enlisted Craig Cignarelli — one of Erik's close friends from high school and fellow tennis enthusiast — to wear a wire while he dined with Erik at a local beachfront restaurant. Craig asked Erik he killed his parents, but the latter denied the accusation.
However, the investigation soon got a breakthrough when a woman named Judalon Smyth went to the police to tell them that the Menendez brothers were, in fact, the killers of their parents. Smyth was the mistress of Erik's psychotherapist, Jerome Oziel, according to The Los Angeles Times. Erik, overburdened with guilt, confessed his role to Oziel — who had recorded their conversations — and Oziel told Smyth after Lyle threatened him.
The brothers were soon arrested in March 1990, but the trial that followed would hit many bumps on the road and take years as the Menendez brothers awaited their sentencing.
Trial
Both Lyle and Erik were tried separately and they would not be indicted until two years later due to controversy over the confession tapes. Judge James Albrecht stated that the confession tapes were admissible in 1990 because Lyle violated doctor-patient privilege by threatening Oziel. However, that ruling was appealed and the proceedings were delayed for two years.
In August 1992, the Supreme Court of California stated that most of the tapes — except the one of Erik discussing the murders — were admissible. In December that year, a Los Angeles County grand jury indicted the brothers and charged them with the murder of their parents.
In 1993, as the trials began separately for Erik and Lyle, the brothers alleged that they suffered sexual, physical and psychological abuse at the hands of the parents, and hence claimed that they had killed their parents in self-defense. Their defense lawyer, Leslie Abrahamson alleged that Jose Menendez was a perfectionist and a pedophile and that Kitty Menendez was a selfish, mentally unstable alcoholic and drug addict who encouraged her husband's abuses and was also sometimes violent towards them, according to Tru TV.
"In the bedroom, we’d have what we called object sessions, and just slide my pants down or take my pants off,” Lyle testified, according to CNN. "Sometimes it would be a short period of time, sometimes longer. Lay me on the bed, and he’d have a tube or Vaseline and he just played with me." The brothers claimed they had killed their parents because they thought their father was planning to kill them.
This resulted in a mistrial as the claims of abuse led to two deadlocked juries for each of the brothers, and, as a result, Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti announced immediately that the brothers would be retried. This time, both brothers would be tried together and cameras were not allowed in the courtroom. In 1996, Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, and in the penalty phase of the trial, were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The whole process took nearly seven years.