The case of the Menendez brothers is confusing when it comes to what side you are on. It’s either you side with the brothers or with the law. By the end of this blog, it’ll be up to you to choose.
José Menendez was a successful entertainment executive while Marie Menendez was a beauty pageant “queen.” Their sons, Lyle Menendez(age 21), and Erik Menendez (age 18) were just as successful. Lyle was a star tennis player who attended Princeton. Erik was also a star tennis player who was a nationally ranked player in his age bracket. José was a helicopter parent, wanting to be involved in his children’s lives and force them to be the best at athletics and school. When they moved to California, Erik began to hang out with the wrong crowd, a bunch of teenage delinquents, and got in trouble for committing burglaries. Lyle was suspended from Princeton for plagiarism.
On August 20th, José and Marie Menendez were shot to death in their home in Beverly Hills, California. José and Marie were shot to death with two 12-gauge shotguns 15 times. This left them nearly unidentifiable to the point police thought the killings were a mob hit.
On the night of the murders, the police were told by the brothers that they had gone to see a movie but had to return back home to retrieve Erik’s ID. That’s when the brothers found their parents’ bodies and called 911. Erik called while sobbing before entering the crime scene.
The murder of their parents left the brothers with 14 million dollars. They used the money to buy expensive items such as a Rolex, a Porsche, lots of designer clothing, a restaurant, a Jeep Wrangler, a $50,000 dollar tennis coach, and a $40,000 investment in a rock concert that never actually happened.
After the string of robberies, Erik was required to go to a court-ordered therapist. The therapist’s name was Dr. Jerome Oziel. After the murders, Erik started to see him again and later confessed to the killings. Dr. Oziel had told his mistress, Judalon Smyth. The therapy sessions would continue, and Dr. Oziel would get both Erik and Lyle on tape confessing to the murder of their parents. Erik said they killed his mother to “put her out of her misery.”
Judalon Smyth claimed that Dr. Oziel was abusive, so Smyth contacted the Beverly Police Department and revealed that the Menendez brothers had confessed to their parents’ murder. Lyle was then arrested and Erik turned himself into the police.
During the trial, Lyle and Erik claimed that their father was not only emotionally abusive but molested them since childhood. Their lawyer, Leslie Abramson argued that the two brothers acted in self-defense.
The first trial lasted four and a half months and resulted in two hung juries (one for each brother) because the jury couldn’t decide if they were guilty of murder or acting in self-defense. Because of this, they were retried. Lyle and Erik were convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
My Review
Now, do you think the jury was right to convict the brothers guilty of murder? Or do you think the jury did the Menendez parents justice? Personally, I think that no matter what circumstance they were in, they shouldn’t have murdered their parents. Yes, they claimed that they were abused, but murder doesn’t account for that unless absolutely necessary to get out of it. They were both adults and could have cut their parents out of their lives. I know that they would just be abandoning the fact that they were abused, but I still think it’s better than murder.
Photo Sources
TodayShow. (2016, September 2). Inside the lives of the menendez brothers, 27 years after lurid crime. TODAY.com. Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://www.today.com/news/inside-lives-menendez-brothers-27-years-after-lurid-crime-t102488
Zakarin, J. (2021, October 8). Why the menendez brothers killed their parents – a look inside their murder case. Biography.com. Retrieved November 3, 2022, from https://www.biography.com/news/menendez-brothers-murder-case-facts
What a shocking, and honestly bizarre story, You’d think with how good they’d have it, they’d be less prone to criminl behavior. Guess I was wrong. If they did suffer abuse, I can understand their hatred towards their parents, but I have to agree, murder isn’t the right choice. As the saying goes, two wrongs don’t make a right.
I obviously was aware of the Menendez brothers and their case, but I had no clue about the hung jury or about the therapist trying to get a confession out of them. You did a good job explaining everything in a concise way that way easy to understand.
I think that it is right that they were sentenced to life. For them, a better option were to be reporting the parent’s abuse to the police so that they would go to prison instead. I think they are still guilty of the murder, even though the parents had it coming.