Desire or Deception
On August 20th, 1989 in the midst of police brutality, gang wars, and perilous music, a brutal homicide occurred in the shadows of Beverly Hills California. Kitty and Jose Menendez were found massacred in their living room on a regular Sunday night. Originally, authorities believed the homicide to be a mafia hit; but that theory quickly dissolved after a confession from Erik. In the trial, cameras in the courtroom exposed the gruesome details of this case, allowing the people to become opinionated about their claims of self-defense against abuse. Therefore, it was difficult finding a jury for their second trial, after their first trial ended in a mistrial. Ultimately, in the Menendez brothers court case, it is argued that …show more content…
Around ten o’clock that night, everything changed with a sudden gunshot. Erik and Lyle Menendez ruthlessly shot their parents’ sixteen times, leaving them unrecognizable. Although, the decision to murder their parents had not been made in that moment; it was made three days earlier after a violent family quarrel. To explain, after consoling his brother about an altercation with their mother, Erik confessed to Lyle what their father was doing to him. With this in mind, “Lyle confronted his father on the 17th. "Dad basically told him stay out of it, don't throw your life away. We're gonna forget this conversation ever took place," Erik explained. "Lyle just exploded on him, saying you're gonna keep your hands off my brother, you're a sick person.””(Erik Tells All). As a result, Jose threatened the boys, deliberately sending them a message that read as a sign of death. Additionally, their mother agreed with their father, equally furious with disappointment in her eyes. The next day, “Aug. 18, 1989: Using a driver's licence stolen from a former roommate of Lyle Menendez, the brothers buy from a San Diego sporting goods store two 12-gauge Mossberg shotguns and shells.”(Tragedy Chronology). In due time, the brothers would use these shotguns to not only murder their parents but also unknowingly their own lives. The brothers had created the perfect illusion …show more content…
The delay of the trial was due to the court going back and forth on which recorded therapy sessions could be used as evidence. Then in August 1992, several tapes were declared admissible, but not the tape of Erik discussing the murders. So in 1993, the brothers were finally going to be judged, as well as enlighten the public what really happened that Sunday night. The courtroom was silent when Erik’s defense lawyer, Leslie Abramson, read her clients’ defense. It was stated that the boys murdered their parents out of self-defense, fearing for their lives after years of abuse. To clarify, this argument was an “Imperfect self-defense, in most legal contexts, allows defendants to contend that they had killed out of fear that their lives were threatened, a fear that might seem groundless to an impartial outsider observer but that the defense maintained seemed real to the defendants because of prolonged psychological or sexual abuse.”(Spare Menendez's). The brothers had claimed that both their mother and father had been physically and emotionally abusing them since they were children. A cousin of the family testified for the defense and said, “Lyle was just 8 when he told her 'he was afraid to sleep in his own bed because his father and him had been touching each other down there”(Cousin Breaks Silence). This further backed the
On August 20th, 1989 in the midst of police brutality, gang wars, and perilous music, a brutal homicide occurred in the shadows of Beverly Hills California. Kitty and Jose Menendez were found massacred in their living room on a regular Sunday night. Originally, authorities believed the homicide to be a mafia hit; but that theory quickly dissolved after a confession from Erik. In the trial, cameras in the courtroom exposed the gruesome details of this case, allowing the people to become opinionated about their claims of self-defense against abuse. Therefore, it was difficult finding a jury for their second trial, after their first trial ended in a mistrial. Ultimately, in the Menendez brothers court case, it is argued that …show more content…
Around ten o’clock that night, everything changed with a sudden gunshot. Erik and Lyle Menendez ruthlessly shot their parents’ sixteen times, leaving them unrecognizable. Although, the decision to murder their parents had not been made in that moment; it was made three days earlier after a violent family quarrel. To explain, after consoling his brother about an altercation with their mother, Erik confessed to Lyle what their father was doing to him. With this in mind, “Lyle confronted his father on the 17th. "Dad basically told him stay out of it, don't throw your life away. We're gonna forget this conversation ever took place," Erik explained. "Lyle just exploded on him, saying you're gonna keep your hands off my brother, you're a sick person.””(Erik Tells All). As a result, Jose threatened the boys, deliberately sending them a message that read as a sign of death. Additionally, their mother agreed with their father, equally furious with disappointment in her eyes. The next day, “Aug. 18, 1989: Using a driver's licence stolen from a former roommate of Lyle Menendez, the brothers buy from a San Diego sporting goods store two 12-gauge Mossberg shotguns and shells.”(Tragedy Chronology). In due time, the brothers would use these shotguns to not only murder their parents but also unknowingly their own lives. The brothers had created the perfect illusion …show more content…
The delay of the trial was due to the court going back and forth on which recorded therapy sessions could be used as evidence. Then in August 1992, several tapes were declared admissible, but not the tape of Erik discussing the murders. So in 1993, the brothers were finally going to be judged, as well as enlighten the public what really happened that Sunday night. The courtroom was silent when Erik’s defense lawyer, Leslie Abramson, read her clients’ defense. It was stated that the boys murdered their parents out of self-defense, fearing for their lives after years of abuse. To clarify, this argument was an “Imperfect self-defense, in most legal contexts, allows defendants to contend that they had killed out of fear that their lives were threatened, a fear that might seem groundless to an impartial outsider observer but that the defense maintained seemed real to the defendants because of prolonged psychological or sexual abuse.”(Spare Menendez's). The brothers had claimed that both their mother and father had been physically and emotionally abusing them since they were children. A cousin of the family testified for the defense and said, “Lyle was just 8 when he told her 'he was afraid to sleep in his own bed because his father and him had been touching each other down there”(Cousin Breaks Silence). This further backed the