By Robert Rand
There are four different versions of what happened the night of October 31, 1989.
That’s when Erik Menendez confessed to Dr. Jerome Oziel that he and his brother, Lyle, had killed their parents.
This is a tragedy that destroyed a family. All four of them had remarkable strengths as well as terrible weaknesses and it did not have to be. If at any time over the course of the lives of the four Menendez family members some effective person could have intervened, everyone would still be alive and well and healing. All four of them needed help. And there never was any help for this family.
— Defense Attorney Leslie Abramson, the day before sentencing
The Menendez brothers were reunited a year ago today, after not having seen each other for almost 22 years.
The brothers were reunited at the R. J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego.
The last time they’d been together was in 1996, two months after they were sentenced to life without parole following their first-degree murder conviction.
The day of the sentencing, the Beverly Hills Police filed a motion asked the judge to place the brothers in separate prisons because they had been co-conspirators in committing a crime.
The judge agreed.
On March 20, 1996, 23 years ago today, a jury of eight men and four women returned with a verdict after deliberating less than four days:
Erik and Lyle Menendez were both found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
It was a miscarriage of justice.
I’ve written Facebook posts and Tweets on this subject already; I’m hoping this post drives a stake in the heart of this “story.”
Welcome to the curious case of a photo on a basketball card of the Menendez brothers at an NBA game — a story that won’t die.
Is that Lyle and Erik? What’s the real story?
It has been two months since the release of The Menendez Murders.
I am grateful for all the TV shows, podcasts, radio interviews, newspapers, and websites that have helped me share a new version of this story – the truth.
In the 2018 era of #MeToo, #MenToo, and the revelations about the Catholic Church, people are more willing to accept that Erik and Lyle Menendez’s emotional testimony of being abused was the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.