portrait of jose and mary louise menendez, as parents, that will make understandable to you, how they could have died at the hands of their children. what they did to their children to bring this about. the parents were as much on trial as lyle and erik menendez were on trial. and and while the prosecution tried to to stick to a just-the-facts-ma am narrative, the defense strategy was emotion, emotion, emotion, emotion. the defense called teachers and coaches and family members to testify about emotional and physical abuse. one of them was cousin, alan. and would you see bruises on the boys after that? yes. and above their above their thigh area where about would be hit. and then, cousin, diane, took the stand. and here came the most explosive issue of the trial. diane testified that the abuse jose inflicted on his sons was not just physical, but sexual. he and his dad have been touching each other, and he indicated that it was in his genital area. and diane told us
professional, and moral responsibility to go forward with this case as a first-degree murder case. but, before that second trial could begin, oj happened. and suddenly, the stakes were even bigger. when o.j. simpson went home, at the end of his trial, it was very hard in the da s office. we were, you know, nationally considered to be, kind of, losers. the second menendez trial began just eight days after o.j. s acquittal, with judge wiseberg presiding, again. the same judge. the same case. but this time, the trial was fundamentally different. the first, major ruling judge weissberg made was no tv camera in the courtroom. this time, one jury for both brothers. judge weissburg also scaled back testimony about the brothers physical and sexual abuse. cousin, diane, for example, was able to testify, just not about lyle telling her that his father was molesting him.
not by kitty. she became like his right-hand man in enforcing things. including what diane and alan came to know as the single most important rule in the menendez house. you cannot go down the hall when jose is with his kids. kitty didn t go down the hall either? no. no. uh-uh. but they did hear things. i ve heard them being whipped, oh man, it was gut wrenching. just the skroems screams and the daddy don t hit me, daddy, don t that kind of stuff. a disturbing series of stories, that to the defense, began to explain what those young men did to their parents. but how do you get from disturbing stories to a double murder? the brothers lawyers began to connect the dots. their defense would be unique. and daring. coming up the prosecution versus the defense