The Mendez Brothers Trial

Is it possible to sympathize with two calculated killers, if they claimed abuse? The jurors of the Menendez brothers’ first trial thought so. The Menendez brothers came from a wealthy family who lived in Beverly Hills, but everything was not as posh as it seemed. Lyle and Erik Menendez seemed to have it all, but their family allegedly had a deep secret. This secret eventually came out on the day that they murdered their parents in cold blood. The brothers shot their parents in their own home, like professional hit men. Aside from this trial, there have been many other cases showing conflicting ideas between jurors. In the play Twelve Angry Men, written by Reginald Rose, he portrays the modern-day problems with the justice system. Through researching this case and reading the play, Twelve Angry Men, one can infer that the jurors from this play would hav/e great difficulty in coming to a verdict in the Menendez Trial.

On August 20th, 1989 Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents inside their Beverly Hills home with fifteen shot gun blasts after years of alleged “sexual, psychological, and corporal abuse” (Berns 25). According to the author of “Murder as Therapy”, “The defense has done a marvelous job of assisting the brothers in playing up their victim roles” (Goldman 1). Because there was so much evidence piled up against the brothers, the defense team was forced to play to the jurors’ emotions if they wanted a chance at an acquittal. Prosecutor Pamela Bozanich was forced to concede that “Jose and Kitty obviously had terrific flaws-most people do in the course of reminding jurors that the case was about murder, not child abuse” (Adler 103). Bozanich “cast the details of abuse as cool, calculated lies” (Smolowe 48)...

... middle of paper ...

... Edition. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

Berns, Walter. "Getting Away With Murder." Commentary 97.4 (1994): 25. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

Carlson, Margaret. “That Killer Smile.” Time 143.6 (1994): 76. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

Goldman, Stuart. "Murder As Therapy." National Review 45.23 (1993): 44. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

Kaplan, David A.Foote, Donna. "The Menendez Brothers Run Out Of Excuses." Newsweek 127.14 (1996): 64. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

McConnell, Tandy. American Decades: 1990-1999. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Print.

Rose, Reginald. Twelve Angry Men. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Smolowe, JillWillwerth, James. "Waiting For The Verdicts." Time 142.26 (1993): 48. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

“The High Cost of Defense.” Lifestyle 21 Mar. 1994: 70. Print