Lyle and Erik Menendez.
The brothers shot and killed their parents on August 20, 1989. Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 at the time. They killed entertainment executives, José Menendez and Kitty Menendez (his wife) in their Beverly Hills home.
So far, they seem pretty deserving of life in prison, right? But wait until you understand why they did this; they were scared to death of their own lives. Afraid of their own parents. Why?
Here’s a little background on two rich white kids, Lyle and Erik:
Stuart Hart is an educational child psychologist and professor (
) at Indiana University, where he taught for 30 years. He also served as an expert witness in the trial of Lyle and Erik Menendez, for the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home. At the time, Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18.
In that case, the prosecution argued that the brothers’ actions were motivated by greed, citing their lavish spending habits after the murders. The defense said the primary motive was
the brothers suffered at the hands of their father.
Once Hart began working on the case, he agreed with the defense attorney’s argument — when he testified, he argued strongly for the child abuse defense. In 1996, Lyle and Erik Menendez were each sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, but to this day Hart views the killings as a reaction to their abusive parents’ wrongdoing, not the work of a cold, calculating killer.
TL;DR, both brothers were sexually abused and molested by their father since they were little, Lyle escaped his father’s depraved actions when he was around 13 but Erik was continuously raped and sexually abused by his own father until he was 18 .
Oh lie? I don’t think so.
The consistency of the testimony, and the details of the testimony. And the consistency of the details of the testimony that he reported. And the testimony was very embarrassing and even despicable.
Lyle has a teenage girl cousin who said that Lyle confessed — it doesn’t say exactly what Lyle experienced — but the cousin said that Lyle wanted to move into her room.
Another cousin Erik said was molested by his father. And if they were to tell the secret, it would be a big risk for them: When Lyle was a kid — around eight or so — anything with his father was a big deal. So many reports of sexual abuse describe what really happened to them without anyone noticing.
They have evidence, they have witnesses to these claims. At least, as much evidence and testimony as can be obtained with this case.
Just to give you an idea, look at the photo above. Why is Jose (his father) posing with his hand on Lyle’s crotch like that? Why not his stomach or any other part of his body?
The murder occurred after Lyle learned that Erik was still being sexually abused by his father at the age of 18. The incident was recounted by
in a news report, and is quoted as follows:
“I remember it was a Tuesday and I came in the front door and mom and Lyle came out of the study and mom was screaming,” Erik said, speaking by phone from Donovan Penitentiary.
“They were arguing and Lyle said he needed something and it was important and his mother got mad and said, ‘you don’t need your hair!’ and his mother reached down and grabbed his hair and ripped it out of Lyle’s head. I remember that incident and being stunned by what happened.”
In a lengthy court filing, Lyle explained that the alleged incident left him “really embarrassed.” “[Erik] didn’t know I had a wig,” Erik said . “My brother and I, there’s things we don’t talk about and that was one of them.”
“I told him not to worry about it, he’s my brother, and I love him, I don’t judge Lyle at all,” Erik continued, before explaining how the conversation then turned to other, darker topics.
“I asked Lyle, ‘Do you remember when I was a kid, you asked me if there was something going on between me and dad?’ Erik explained further, ‘Lyle, it’s still going on,’ “
“He was shocked, ‘What do you mean?’ I said ‘It’s still happening, sexual things.’ Suddenly he was really upset. Asking how I could let it happen, did I enjoy it, why I didn’t tell anyone, why I didn’t stop it. I was crying and I started having a mini panic attack.”
Lyle then asked if their mother knew about the abuse . “I said ‘no,’ [but] Lyle said, ‘No, I think she knows. I think she knows.'”
Lyle, in an effort to protect his younger brother, goes and threatens José (his father), saying, “You have to let him go; otherwise, we’ll tell people about this.”
Their father retaliated by saying that they would never dare and would regret it if they did. This made them paranoid that their father would kill them for fear of ruining his perfect reputation, which led them to plan the murder.
As time went on they eventually committed murder, killing both of their parents. Personally, I think Kitty (their mother) also deserved to die here. Along with knowing full well what was going on between them and their father and doing nothing to help, she also participated in a form of sexual abuse herself.
Until Lyle was 13, his mother would bathe him while “touching” him in various parts of his body. She would also take him to bed with her and she would touch him “in sensitive areas,” Lyle testified.
“I took it as my mother’s love,” Lyle Menendez said, adding, “She seemed to enjoy it. But I didn’t like what she was doing,” he said, “and when I tried to stop her, she would get mad at me.”
Throughout his teenage years, he said, his mother “abused” him with increasingly bizarre sexual behavior.
Ew. That’s disgusting. These people are sick, their kids didn’t ask for this. Killing their parents seems like the only way out for them and honestly, I totally understand why.
There is plenty of evidence for them here. With witnesses testifying to Lyle & Erik’s claims and housekeepers claiming to have found child pornography magazines in José’s office, and his housekeepers claiming that others have claimed to have been sexually abused by him as well.
Since not many people were willing to risk damaging their reputations by testifying in court, it ultimately resulted in a lack of evidence and testimony that could be presented to challenge the available evidence of murder.
Their first two trials were not in sync. The first jury found them not guilty but faced a backlash from the public who wanted them behind bars for good. And eventually the first trial was canceled and they started the whole case again in front of a second jury, which was unfairly barred from mentioning evidence of sexual assault as a reason to support their claim of self-defense.
Several members of the second jury later stated that even though they had spoken of sexual abuse and family history, the court still found them guilty and sentenced them to no more than parole.
It’s funny that the judge had to make such an unfair decision to win the case against both of them. This unfair decision also happened around the same time of the OJ Simpson case so it doesn’t help.
Sometimes I wonder how the trial would have turned out differently if both Menendez brothers (Lyle & Erik) had been women.
