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
for many television viewers, cameras in court have gone from novelty to necessity. when you see it on tv, you feel like you re there, and you kind of get to be a judge yourself. it s like real life, and i think that all of us like to delve into other people s lives. people could not get enough of this. the high-profile case of the two brothers accused of shooting their parents to death in their beverly hills mansion has captured the interest of people across the country, but some interest has little to do with legal issues. i think they re really cute. at the height of their popularity, which is kind of a funny word to use, erik and lyle menendez were reading a thousand letters a week, primarily from women all over the world, who were sending them naked pictures, telling them that they wanted to come visit them at the l.a. county jail, a combination of infamy and popularity. prosecutor bozanich, throughout the trial, has maintained the brothers actually killed their par
not just physical but sexual. he and his dad had been touching each other and he indicated it was in his genital area. reporter: and diane told us she observed even more. three of them would take showers together. lyle was 15 and erik was 12. reporter: prosecutor bozanich was, to say the least, skeptical. if my daughter needed me to lie for her, i d lie for her. if it was a life and death thing, of course, you would. if it s your cousin that you grew up with, of course you would. and you re pretty sure that they were doing that? i m positive. reporter: one reason why? a relative came to me and said that she felt that the defense was made up, that she confronted lyle about it. and he said to her, that s the way it s gonna be. reporter: so we had to ask. did the brothers ask you to lie for them? no. did they ask you to sort of, like, shade things or tell certain stories and not other stories or anything like that? uh-uh.
decision turned a local l.a. story into an international sensation. how big was it? the menendez trial was the case that put an entire network, court tv, on the broadcast landscape. reporter: prosecutor pam bozanich knew all of america was watching her every move. how did you feel as you prepared to make your opening statement? as i walked down the hallway, all the cameras were there. and, you know, i just threw up. cause i thought, oh, god. you know, this is really stressful. so reporter: what s more, prosecutor bozanich was going up against two fierce opponents. leslie abramson defending erik. and jill lansing defending lyle. these are three very smart, strong women? definitely. engaged against each other over these boys? yes. i say boys. but they weren t really boys no, they were they? weren t boys at all. in fact, that s what the defense wanted everybody to hear, these
leslie abramson wrapped her arms around their shoulders. had them trade their dapper suits for preppy sweaters. everything that jill lansing and leslie abramson did was deliberate and calculated. prosecutor bozanich steeled herself, determined not to let the optics distract the juries. based upon this evidence, it will become apparent that this murder was unlawful, unjustified, and wholly premeditated. in basic english, the prosecution s case was this. just the facts, ma am. fact number one. lyle and erik driving down to san diego, two days before the murders, to buy shotguns and with a stolen i.d. why are you using the fake i.d.? because you know you re gonna be using the gun to do something you shouldn t be doing. that is evidence of intent. after the murders, the prosecution showed the brothers lied to the police for months, starting from the very moment lyle called 911. someone killed my parents!