dollars. they were spending money like they were drunken sailors. now lyle and erik menendez face the death penalty, first-degree murder. greedy rich kids kill ozzie and harriet on a sunday night in beverly hills, and there s much more to the story than that. the courtroom at the l.a. superior courthouse in van nuys was actually a very tiny courtroom, and so there were a dozen media people that got to see the trial in the courtroom every day. writer dominic dunn appeared to hear opening statements. i m just a writer here covering this. i had just gotten out of school and started as a cub reporter at this legal newspaper. i got one of the seats in the courtroom. there were the lawyers and the brothers. my editors and i knew from the get-go that it was going to be captivating as [bleep]. okay, now opening statements by the prosecution. thank you, your honor, and good morning. the only time i ve ever thrown up during a trial was right before opening statement
i just told him that i didn t want to do this and that it hurt me, and he said that he didn t mean to hurt me, and he loved me. i saw reporters that were crying. it was just such a powerful moment, probably one of the most powerful moments i ve ever seen in a courtroom. they had 2 years to get ready for their testimony. i happen to know the defense attorneys were at the county jail almost every day, so, you know, put two and two together. they re practicing. i thought the defense case was original, creative, a fascinating piece of defense lawyering and absolute nonsense. assistant district attorney pam bozanich calls the brothers abuse defense a legal smoke screen. i would bet everything i own and everything everybody else owns it didn t happen. i was told by the bailiffs that he and erik would high-five each other after their testimony because they, you know, they did such a great job. i think the prosecution was confident of their case.
promising abuse defense many of the u.s. have wanted for years and more important right now in this war pledging to deliver a thousand tank missiles firing systems and let them drive, did you can fire as a russians will be shooting back and devastating effects on the battlefield and dozens of russian tanks restored to ukrainian officials. over 4000 russian soldiers are killed. many in the west think that will be high. it shows a devastation resistance that russians are feeling trying to invade this country and people want to be free. these weapons have slowed the russian advance including 500 antiaircraft missiles that the germans are also pledging. a number are shooting down russian gunships, 67 russian gunships have been shot down. it s very clear that the russians are trying to gain a foothold throughout the country not just outside of the capital. one southeast of here as well. a message to nato, vladimir
didn t have enough time to hate him, obviously. like jodi arias did. stabbing him 26 times and for good measure, shooting him in the head. i don t know, as you re falling to your death, i don t think it makes much difference. you know, so prosecutors are going to have to do, let s make a deal here, simply because there are no witnesses. we can all agree? absolutely. it s her story against nobody else, really. when you have also, there s really there s no history of any violence. no one s coming forward, and saying, i knew this was going to happen. she beat him all the time, nothing like that. well, i wouldn t be surprised if the abuse defense emerges. it s going to depend on what the judge allows in along those lines, essentially whether it s prejudicial and so on. i think you make a good point, which is that it s only her confession and they may be able to attack it, before that happened, she lied a couple
responsibility no matter how clear you are with the appropriateness of the death penalty, itself. diane was clear the brutality of the murder, even she equivocated a bit. some of the instructions they were getting about the death penalty instructed them to look into the previous history of crime the previous behavior. there were several jurors who were not only convinced this was a sort of an alchemy of that relationship that, she has no history he was likely to do this thing. several jurors believed the abuse defense to some degree or another. so they were absolutely clear to give it to a serial killer or to someone that met that criteria that they were given, but they were also very clear they could not give it to jodi arias, so they were deadlocked. to say, i m troubled by people saying the system didn t work, it was a troubling outcome. no. things worked the way they were supposed to. this is just situation, for