about abuse in the first place. in between the two trials, there were allegations that he was asking people to fabricate testimony. letters surfaced after the first trial in which lyle was alleged to have encouraged people to lie for the defense. so the defense decided they couldn t put him on the witness stand, so erik menendez had to carry the ball for both brothers. and he was a good witness, but he was not as strong as lyle menendez had been at the first trial. reporter: and that expert testimony about the impact of the alleged abuse on the brothers state of mind? judge weisberg severely limited the number of experts because he felt their testimony was repetitive. one not allowed to testify was dr. vicary. i was shocked. and i said, well, they ve gutted the defense. i mean, there is no defense without that. reporter: that specific ruling was in large part due to the objections raised by the new prosecutor leading the people s case. deputy d-a david conn.
that really just was like a punch in the gut. reporter: and then, just before the jury went out, judge weisberg s last ruling. and quite possibly, the most important one of all. the jurors would not be allowed to consider an imperfect self-defense. judge weisberg, basing his ruling on a california supreme court decision that came down after the first menendez trial, said imperfect self defense didn t apply because the brothers initiated the confrontation with their parents. reporter: do you think in retrospect had you been offered imperfect self-defense that you might have maybe started in a different place or come to a different conclusion? i m pretty confident that we would not have, because we literally started from first-degree murder. and when every element was satisfied we were done. reporter: this time around, the deliberations were quicker, more congenial. and certain. the verdicts was guilty on all counts with special circumstances.
reporter: but before that second trial could begin oj happened. and suddenly the stakes were even bigger. when o.j. went home, we were nationally considered to be losers. reporter: the second menendez trial began just eight days after oj s acquittal with judge weisberg presiding again. the same judge the same case, but this time the trial was fundamentally different. the first major ruling judge weisberg made was, no tv camera in the courtroom. reporter: this time, one jury for both brothers. judge weisberg also scaled back testimony about the brothers alleged physical and sexual abuse. cousin diane, for example, was able to testify, just not about lyle telling her that his father was molesting him. one reason that couldn t come in, was because this time around, lyle didn t take the stand to lay the foundation
if i can make such a gross analogy. that really just was like a punch in the gut. and then, just before the jury went out, judge weisberg s last ruling. and quite possibly, the most important one of all. the jurors would not be allowed to consider an imperfect self-defense. judge weisberg, basing his ruling on a california supreme court decision that came down after the first menendez trial, said imperfect self defense didn t apply because the brothers initiated the confrontation with their parents. do you think in retrospect had you been offered imperfect self-defense that you might have maybe started in a different place or come to a different conclusion? i m pretty confident that we would not have, because we literally started from first-degree murder. and when every element was satisfied we were done. this time around, the deliberations were quicker, more congenial. and certain. the verdicts was guilty on all counts with special
about abuse in the first place. in between the two trials, there were allegations that he was asking people to fabricate testimony. letters surfaced after the first trial in which lyle was alleged to have encouraged people to lie for the defense. so the defense decided they couldn t put him on the witness stand, so erik menendez had to carry the ball for both brothers. and he was a good witness, but he was not as strong as lyle menendez had been at the first trial. and that expert testimony about the impact of the alleged abuse on the brothers state of mind? judge weisberg severely limited the number of experts because he felt their testimony was repetitive. one not allowed to testify was dr. vicary. i was shocked. and i said, well, they ve gutted the defense. i mean, there is no defense without that. that specific ruling was in large part due to the objections raised by the new prosecutor leading the people s case.