(2 of 3)
So much for the fine distinctions of the law, which aims to make a precise science out of the imprecise art of reading a defendant's heart and mind. In the end, the verdicts will hinge largely on the jurors' reactions to the brothers' graphic stories of parental abuse. Did the young men concoct the details to mask their desire to dip freely into their family's $14 million estate -- shrunken by spending binges, attorneys' fees and other costs to $800,000 -- without the interference of their controlling parents? Or were the comfortable years the brothers spent in Princeton, N.J., an elaborate lie, a filial cover-up for the sodomizing and death threats by their parents? And if the jurors believe the tales of abuse, would they then allow the victims of such abuse to plead self-defense and escape the full penalty of the law for using violence on their violators?
"The sexual abuse is here to portray the victims as monsters so you don't care that they are dead," argued prosecutor Bozanich. "But we don't execute people for being bad parents." Bozanich had to deal with the defense's strategy, which in effect put the dead parents on trial for alleged abuses. Indeed, she could no longer argue that the brothers acted out of pure greed. "This was not a classic murder for financial gain," she allowed. "The defendant and his brother wanted to maintain their life the way it was, without their parents controlling them."
Even so, Bozanich cast the details of abuse as cool, calculated lies. She launched this portion of her argument with a reading from Hitler's Mein Kampf: "The great masses of the people . . . will more easily fall victims to a great lie than a small one." Bozanich then recapped the lies Lyle had told in the seven months prior to his arrest -- lies he had to own up to once his trial got under way. He lied to police investigators when he made up the tale of Mafia hit men, even as he had the presence of mind to remove incriminating shells from his car while cops stood by. He lied to his relatives, maintaining his innocence to ensure that his legal fees would be covered with money from his parents' estate. He similarly lied to his girlfriend Jamie Pisarcik, then later urged her to testify falsely that his father had "made a pass" at her.
More than a few of the brothers' stories faltered in the courtroom. Pisarcik, who has since broken up with Lyle, challenged the brothers' contention that the murder plan had begun on Aug. 15, when mother Kitty ripped Lyle's toupee from his head. The scene supposedly so shocked Erik that to assuage his brother's humiliation, the younger Menendez confessed to his sibling that he was being continually abused by their father. Lyle allegedly then began thinking of ways of saving his brother from Jose. Pisarcik testified, however, that Erik couldn't have been shocked by his brother's bald pate because the previous spring Erik had told her that Lyle wore a hairpiece.
The prosecution also punctured the brothers' claim that they had traveled to San Diego to purchase Mossberg pump shotguns only after they tried to buy handguns at a local sports store but were deterred by the 15-day waiting period. In fact, the sports store had not carried handguns since 1986, making the stop unlikely -- and supporting the prosecution's contention that the brothers had deliberately traveled out of town to purchase the weapons where no one would recognize them.