All language subtitles for How.It.Really.Happened.S01E02_Engh

♪♪

♪♪

Welcome to
"How It Really Happened."

I'm Hill Harper.

The Menendez murders are one of
the most well-known crimes

in U.S. history.

Jose, a wealthy Hollywood
executive,

and his wife, Kitty, gunned down
in their Beverly Hills mansion.

For months, the case
went unsolved,

until the shocking confessions
of their sons,

Lyle and Erik, came to light.

When the case went to trial
in July 1993,

nearly 4 years
after the crimes,

the public was literally
watching along, gavel to gavel,

on an up-and-coming
cable network, Court TV.

The Menendez brothers
became infamous

pop-culture celebrities,

not just for killing
their parents,

but for the reasons
they claim drove them to do so.

Their riveting testimony
is next.

Check it out.

King: The press calls the case

the Beverly Hills
mansion murders,

and the story reads like
one of the unsold scripts

that circulate here
in Hollywood.

Watts: Are these the words
of a saddened, shocked son

or the cool words
of a cold-hearted killer?

Reporter: Prosecutors contend
the Menendez brothers

were hoping to collect
on an inheritance

estimated at $14 million.

They were spending quite a bit
of money on lavish items.

Some estimates say that
in the first six or seven months

after the deaths,
they spent a million dollars.

They were spending money
like they were drunken sailors.

King: And 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.

Woman:
Writer Dominick Dunne appeared

to hear opening statements.

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 hell.

Judge Weisberg: 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.

Based upon this evidence,
it will become apparent

that this murder was unlawful,

unjustified,
and wholly premeditated.

I had been told
by the D.A.'s office

to acquiesce
to cameras in the courtroom,

and I went in chambers with
the other attorneys, and I said,

"Absolutely not, I do not
want cameras in the courtroom,"

and the judge said, "We are not
going to have cameras."

And we come in
for opening statement,

and there's the Goddamn camera.

But for a few mistakes
they made,

this was almost
the perfect murder.

Thank you.

Abrahamson: It's very difficult
now, 20-plus years later

to think about how --
if the right word is --

innovative
the Menendez trial was.

Reporter 2: A Los Angeles
courtroom has become the focus

of worldwide media attention.

People were not used to seeing
courtroom drama on television.

They just were not.

Reporter 2:
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 real life,
and I think that all of us

like to delve
into other people's lives.

People could not
get enough of this.

Reporter 3:
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 getting

1,000 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.

Reporter 2:
Prosecutor Bozanich,

throughout the trial,

has maintained the brothers
actually killed their parents

out of greed and hate.

My premise was they killed
their parents

because the parents were
about to disinherit them,

and the parents
were fed up with them.

Abrahamson:
So the prosecution's case

was actually straightforward.

Everything showed that Lyle
and Erik Menendez had,

in fact, shotgunned
their parents to death.

Camerota: The prosecution's star
witness was Dr. Jerome Oziel.

He was their therapist,

and he was the person who
the brothers had confessed to.

"We did it."

They said,
"We killed our parents."

Dr. Heffernan: I didn't believe
they were guilty.

I just couldn't fathom
that they could have done that.

I never believed whatsoever
until it came out at trial.

The defense may call
its next witness.

Woman: Defense calls
Joseph Lyle Menendez.

Stevenson: Lyle was the first
one to take the stand.

Even just hearing his voice
was dramatic for everyone

because it's very rare
that you get to hear

from the mouth of someone
who has committed a murder

exactly how that murder
went down.

We just burst through the doors,
and I started firing.

They sat there very
matter-of-factly

and explained that they did it.

I entered the room.

I saw two people in the room,
and I just started firing.

And oh, my gosh, how many
people would do that?

I just fired until there
was nothing left.

There was things shattering,

and the noise was phenomenal,
just chaos.

The most dramatic piece
of evidence

was when Lyle Menendez
acknowledged that, yes,

he had reloaded
his shotgun and taken it

and put it up against
his mother's head and fired.

At some point was
your gun empty?

Yes, so I reloaded.

And what did you do
after you reloaded?

♪♪

♪♪

I ran around and shot my mom.

And then Kitty gets shot
and is crawling along the floor,

trying to, you know,
get out of the way.

Murdering her,
shooting her like a dog,

and then running through
all that money on frivolities?

Did they ever even love her?

I felt very betrayed and used,

especially with
the whole phenomena

of coaching them
after the fact,

and that's when
I really withdrew.

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

Rand: The prosecution put
on a strong case,

but what they weren't counting
on was the power of the defense.

I just told them --
I don't --

I don't --

And now we had an explanation.

Reporter 4:
Over the past four weeks,

prosecutors have tried to prove

that the two Menendez
brothers coldly plotted

and carried out the execution of
their parents for two reasons --

hatred and greed,
and defense lawyers concede

that their clients
did kill their parents,

but not for those reasons.

We're back, and we welcome
Leslie Abramson,

the attorney
for Erik Menendez.

She's regarded in Los Angeles
and around the country

as one of the best defense
attorneys in the business.

If I was in trouble,
I would think very seriously

about calling Leslie Abramson
because she is that good.

This case has been treated
like a soap opera

by you all for a long time,
and it isn't a soap opera.

This is real life.

Leslie Abramson was
incredibly passionate.

She was almost, like,
rebellious in the courtroom.

I'm going to object
to that answer, Your Honor.

This witness has been
trying to do this --

Man: Counsel --

Judge Weisberg: You will succeed
in not mugging for the jury,

not making faces
to the audience.

You will behave professionally.

Is that clear?
Yes, of course.

I do not believe any jury
will ever convict

Erik Menendez
of first-degree murder.

Leslie, you know, dressed them
up in sweaters in court

and tried to emphasize
how young they were.

Grace: I remember watching her
in court,

how she would put her arm
around them

and rub them and pat them

and, like, pick a piece
of lint off their sweater,

just smooth it down
in front of the jury.

Who could, you know,
harm their parents,

you know, looking like that?

Reporter 3: During their trial,
the brothers admitted they shot

and killed
film-company executive

Jose Menendez
and his wife, Kitty,

in the den of their $4 million
Beverly Hills home

because, they said,
of a dark family secret.

So in this case,
the brothers had confessed.

They had said that
they killed their parents.

They said it in the confession,
to the doctor.

They also said it on the stand.

So then this case went
from a whodunit

to why had they done it.

Rand: Both brothers were calling
me occasionally from jail.

They said, Wait until the trial.

You'll find out what was
really happening

in the Menendez family."

I had done many cases for
Leslie Abramson over the years,

and she could not believe
this horrific killing

was merely the product
of them wanting money.

So she brought me in
as her psychiatric expert,

and she said, "Look, I want you
to interview these boys

and find out really
what went on."

Lyle proved to be a very, very
difficult interview subject,

and he was very reluctant to
talk about virtually anything,

whereas Erik,
all he would --

kept telling me was
how wonderful his father was

and that his mother was such
a wonderful, loving mother.

I really wasn't getting
anywhere.

It wasn't until four months,

little dribs
and drabs started to come out

that there had been
some very negative things

going on in the family,
and now we had an explanation.

For 12 years, between the ages
of 6 and 18,

my client, Erik Menendez,

was sexually molested
by his father.

Bozanich:
The attorneys stand up,

and they say
they killed the parents

because of abuse,
and you could hear a pin drop.

And we were all like, "Oh."

People started saying,
"Why are we just hearing

about this
for the first time?"

Jose Menendez's obvious purpose

was to use his child's body
to satisfy his lust.

Dr. Heffernan:
I had no idea of that.

The boys had never spoken
about that and --

Or anybody that I knew
around them

had never spoken about that.

I never saw anything with Jose
and the boys at all.

Woman: Between the ages
of 6 and 8...

...did your father have
sexual contact with you?

Yes.

Stevenson: Everyone in
the courtroom was stunned.

People just writing as fast
as they could,

trying to get every word.

My dad came in and told me
to take off my clothes

and to kneel on the bed.

At one point, I just started
screaming,

and I started saying,
"Stop, it hurts. It hurts."

I think people were stunned,

not only to hear this claim
in the first place,

but to hear the details

about what these brothers
said happened to them.

He raped me.

Did you cry?

Yes.

Did you ask him not to?

Yes.

How did you ask him
not to?

I just told him -- I don't --
I don't --

I'm sorry.

I just told him that I didn't
want to do this

and that it hurt me.

♪♪

And he said that he didn't mean
to hurt me, and he loved me.

Rand: I saw reporters
that were crying.

It was just such
a powerful moment,

probably one of
the most powerful moments

I've ever seen
in a courtroom.

Bozanich: They had two years to
get ready for their testimony.

I happen to know
the defense attorneys

were at the county jail
almost every day,

so, you know,
put two and two together.

They're practicing.

Abrahamson: I thought
the defense case

was original, creative,

a fascinating piece of defense
lawyering and absolute nonsense.

Reporter 3: Assistant District
Attorney Pam Bozanich calls

the brothers' abuse
defense a legal smoke screen.

I would bet everything I own

and everything everybody else
owns it didn't happen.

I was told by the bailiffs
that he and Erik

would high-five each other
after their testimony

because they, you know,
they did such a great job.

I think the prosecution
was confident of their case.

I think they thought,

"The jury is not going
to buy this defense,"

and so I don't think
they really prepared

a significant response.

Bozanich: You learned to lie
as a child, didn't you?

I would say I did.

If you lied about this
for all those months,

how are we
supposed to know

that you're now
telling the truth?

They were all screwed up
psychologically, basket cases.

There's a reason why they
acted out against their parents.

Grace: Something didn't sit
right with me.

Something was wrong.

Reporter 5: Court TV records
viewer comments,

and since the trial began
five months ago,

the line is often clogged
with callers

interested in
the Menendez case.

It's hard to describe
how I felt,

like I had to run
as fast as I could,

that my life
was so slipping away,

and that we were going to die.

So this is before social media.

You can imagine if Twitter
was a thing

during the Menendez trial,
it would have blown up.

Reporter 5:
And just who's calling?

Men and women on both sides
of the case,

those who believe
the brothers are innocent...

They're calling in to say,
you know,

"Give these guys more credit.

You can't make up stuff
like this."

Reporter 5: ...and those who
find them guilty.

"Those kids are absolute
lying brats,

a string of four-letter words.

Reporter 5:
Even the prosecutor's office

gets up to 50 calls a day.

You've got people calling you
from Arkansas,

saying, "I saw you on Court TV,
and I really hate your hair,"

and it's like,
"Thank you, ma'am,

but, you know,
I'm a little busy right now,"

and that happened a lot.

The defendants told Dr. Oziel
that they killed their father

because he controlled them
and made them feel inferior.

There were people not only
in the states,

but all over the world
that were watching

every day like a soap opera.

Abramson:
Jose Menendez's obvious purpose

was to use his child's body
to satisfy his lust.

And people that had to work
during the day would record it

and watch it at night,

and Court TV would run a 3-hour
highlight show every night.

I'm telling the truth
to the best that I can,

and I remember firing
directly at them.

-Can you answer the question?
-Yes.

Abramson: Okay, it was you
telling Lyle what?

That my dad had been
molesting me.

People were obsessed.
People couldn't get enough.

I remember one of the Court
TV employees

saying that NBC had called,
and they were going to do a skit

about the Menendez brothers
on "Saturday Night Live,"

and it was about
Erik and Lyle on the stand

and supposedly
blaming everything

on their younger twin brothers

that apparently nobody
knew anything about.

Woman 2:
Is it your testimony

that you
and your brother, Erik,

in fact, had nothing do
with the murder of your parents,

Jose and Kitty Menendez?

That's correct.

Then can you tell the court
who did murder your parents?

Our other two brothers,

Danny Menendez
and Jose Menendez Jr.

You could see the celebrity
aspect of this trial

playing out in real time
and in real life,

and the zaniness of some of
the people who were involved.

Dr. Jerry Oziel
is quite a character.

He was almost worthless,
except he could say,

"They told me they did it."

I asked them, "You mean
you killed your parents?"

He said, "Yes."

And then Judalon Smyth,
his girlfriend,

was bat [bleep] crazy.

Bozanich:
Are you aware of the fact

that you told Diane Sawyer
the following things?

She asked you, in the program
which was aired

on August the 30th
of 1990,

"Are Lyle and Erik Menendez
guilty?

Did they murder
their parents?"

Your answer --
"Yes, they did."

Diane Sawyer --
"You know this?"

You answered, "Absolutely,
I heard from their own mouths

that they killed
their parents."

So now you're saying
that you no longer believe

that you heard that,
correct?

I was brainwashed.

You were brainwashed?

Camerota: I mean,
who brainwashed her?

How could she be brainwashed?

How could she tell Diane Sawyer
one thing so clearly,

and then in court decide
to completely, you know,

renege on that story?

Abrahamson: I think when
Dr. Oziel's girlfriend

was on the stand,
you're thinking to yourself,

"Oh, my goodness,
what a -- what a show."

Bozanich: I always wanted to try
a complex murder.

It turns out that you have to
be careful what you wish for.

This was like a circus ride.

Now, do you want to equate
a teenager

talking back to a parent
with being a homicidal maniac?

Because that is the strongest
evidence of aggression

that they think they have
in this case.

I mean this admiringly...

Leslie loves the spotlight,

and in the closing argument,
she had the spotlight,

and she was determined
to milk it for every moment.

I cannot show you the crime that
Jose Menendez committed on him,

but you heard about
some of the things

that he liked to do
to his little boy,

and one of them was to stick
tacks like this in his thighs

and in his butt and to run
needles across his penis.

The defense attorneys
had given these, you know,

extraordinarily theatrical
closing arguments.

Pam Bozanich didn't have
a lot of theatrics.

Don't assume that just
because people have money,

they can't be violent.

I remember being really angry
during my closing statement,

and they bought
the right ammunition.

They bought the right guns.

They killed their parents.

Look at these defendants.

Look at their crimes.

Look at what Lyle Menendez has
tried to sell you as a defense.

Look at the lies that he has
told you on the witness stand,

and ask yourself can you believe
anything that this man says?

My hope was to make the jury
think they were liars.

Stevenson: She stood up
and just very quietly

and strictly said
to the jury, is like,

"This is
a first-degree murder."

This is what they did
to their mother.

Stevenson: "And don't let them
get away with it,"

and she did that really well.

Because the brothers
have separate juries,

the verdicts will not
be announced

until both have
finished deliberations.

The only question was how long

the deliberations
were going to take.

It's really left for the jurors

to determine the credibility
and decide who they believe.

In 1993, the murder trials
of Lyle

and Erik Menendez
captivated the country.

TV networks were clamoring
to get their Menendez

made-for-TV movies ready to air
once the verdicts were read.

For six months, public opinion
was divided

between seeing
the Menendez brothers

as cold-blooded murderers
or victims of unthinkable abuse.

What would each jury decide?

♪♪

Stevenson: So much had happened
during the six months, I think,

that this trial went on,
that it almost became,

like, unclear what verdict
the jury should come back with.

Rand: The Menendez jurors

were faced
with five different choices.

They could vote for first
or second-degree murder,

voluntary or involuntary
manslaughter or acquittal.

There was quite a bit of debate
on what was the level

of the responsibility
of the brothers.

Christian: Deliberations
began in December.

At Court TV, we clearly
kept viewers updated

on what was going on,

which was that nothing
was going on.

What does it say
when the deliberations

have gone on
so many days?

And you're saying
you still have a chance?

They're still deliberating,
aren't they?

It seems like an eternity
because we're, like, you know,

on pins and needles.

I was driving 30 miles to go
sit in my office, waiting.

I actually brought
in needlepoint to help.

Three weeks
and they haven't budged.

It has been our suspicion

that there was
some deep division.

I guess this is as deep
as it goes.

The deliberations were taking
a long time.

The judge just kept telling them
to go back

and keep working on it.

I did see, during the trial,
that some of the men

seemed to really have
their minds made up altogether.

Woman 3:
Do you solemnly swear

that the testimony
you may give...

We were all given pads of paper

to take notes of things
that are important

and things you want
to remember and discuss.

Early on, those pads of paper
the men had

were thrown
on the floor under their feet.

So it wasn't too difficult
to assume

how they were going to vote.

And then, in the middle
of all the deliberations,

we had the Northridge
earthquake.

Reporter 6: The earthquake hit
at 4:31 a.m. Pacific time.

It measured 6.6
on the Richter scale.

This was a bomb.
It went off under our complex,

picked it up
and threw it back down 12 feet

and crushed these first-floor
apartments within four seconds.

It was really,
really scary for everyone.

Several of you sustained
property damage at your homes,

dislocation because
of the earthquake.

We all want to determine
whether or not the earthquake,

its aftermath,
is having any impact

on where you can't form
a unanimous decision.

Because a lot of the jurors
did have problems

that they needed to attend to.

So I don't think it helped
the prosecution

to have that earthquake at all.

Judge Weisberg: The court finds

that there is
no reasonable probability

of the jury reaching a
unanimous decision in this case.

Therefore, I find that the jury
is hopelessly deadlocked,

and the court declares
a mistrial.

It turns out that the verdict
was that there was no verdict,

and, in fact,
it was a hung jury.

Stevenson: It was disheartening
that it was a hung jury.

Everybody wants to see
an ending to a good story,

and there was no ending
to this story.

Woman 4: How deadlocked
were they?

How deadlocked do you
have to be?

When I first heard
the jury hung,

I believed not necessarily

that they bought into
the theory of abuse,

but that they were unsure.

And you know what?

If they were unsure,
they should have hung.

Let's just all thank
our lucky stars

they didn't acquit outright.

Rand: One of the most
interesting facts

of the jury deliberations

is that all of the women jurors,

in both juries
in the first trial,

voted for manslaughter, and all
of the men voted for murder,

and when I interviewed jurors
after the first trial,

several of the men told me,

"A father would never
do that to his sons."

Abramson: Is it a victory?

No, I don't consider it
a victory.

A victory would be
if my client were free.

To me, that would be a victory.

I knew early on it was going
to hang,

and I was hoping it would hang
and not be a not guilty.

I didn't want them going home.

The D.A.'s office
announced immediately

that they were going
to retry the brothers.

We have an ethical,
a professional,

and moral responsibility
to go forward with this case

as a first-degree
murder case.

We're seeking justice, and
that's what we're going to do.

Gil was angry.

They're better actors than
even I thought that they were,

if they're able to
pull it off a second time.

Christian: So imagine
that you're Gil Garcetti,

the L.A. County D.A.

You've got one huge
high-profile trial

that had kind of ended
with egg on your face,

and right after that,
literally right after that,

O.J. Simpson.

King: O.J. Simpson is now one
of our most wanted ever.

Reporter 7: It went
through the interchange,

continuing northbound
on the 405.

Rand: When the Bronco chase
was being carried live on TV,

Erik Menendez was watching
in his cell

at the L.A. County jail,

and a few hours later,

O.J. Simpson came walking down
the hallway

in handcuffs and shackles,

and he was placed in a cell
right next to Erik Menendez.

A year after the hung jury,
the L.A. District Attorney

is preparing for the second,
you know, take two

of the Menendez brothers trial.

And a few days before that trial
is set to begin,

a verdict comes down
in the O.J. Simpson case.

The verdict is in.

The Los Angeles jury found
O.J. Simpson not guilty

of the murders
of Nicole Brown

and Ronald Goldman.

Camerota:
The O.J. Simpson verdict

was yet another crushing loss

for the L.A.
District Attorney's office.

We are, all of us, profoundly
disappointed with the verdict.

I don't think anybody
can question

but that the D.A.'s office
needed a victory.

Garcetti: You're talking about
two first-degree murders

of a mother and father,
committed by their children,

and be damned with how much
money it's going to cost.

We're going to seek justice
in this case.

Velez-Mitchell: The public, in
the Menendez trial number two,

was in no mood
to hear any excuses --

"Oh, my dad did this,
boo-hoo-hoo."

They were like, "Unh-unh,
we're done with that,"

and I think the O.J. case had
a lot to do with that.

People were fed up,
fed up with people coming up

with excuses
for violent crimes.

The pretrial publicity,
the negative publicity,

the fact that the Menendez
brothers are a joke

in this country,
that's a problem.

There's a bad -- there's bad
vibes out there towards them.

Conn: We have now seen the
defense take their best shot,

and we know exactly
where they're going.

There are no more surprises.

It's round two for Los Angeles
and the Menendez brothers.

In the first trial, two juries,
one for each of the brothers,

hung, unable to choose
between manslaughter and murder.

We believe,
in our professional judgment,

my professional judgment,

the evidence warrants
a conviction of murder

in the first degree.

A clear desperation
for a conviction,

win one for the Gipper.

Reporter 8: The Gipper being
District Attorney Gil Garcetti,

whose office has been criticized
for losing

a string
of high-profile cases recently,

including that of rapper
Snoop Doggy Dog,

O.J. Simpson, and the original
Menendez trials.

So, yes, a win
was desperately needed

in the L.A. District Attorney's
office.

It wasn't an easy time
in the D.A.'s office.

We were getting buffeted a lot.

You read the stories that,
basically,

we couldn't win anything.

King: Television.
Yep.

Like it?
Don't like it?

Oh, I love television.
Right?

In the courtroom?
No, I don't.

Woman 5: Defendant Orenthal
James Simpson not guilty of...

Stevenson: The O.J. Simpson case
had just ended,

and one thing that came out
of the O.J. Simpson case

was that nobody wanted

to put cameras in their
courtroom again after that.

Rand: The judge made a ruling

a few weeks before
the second trial started,

that he was not going to allow
the camera in the courtroom.

In order for TV stations
to cover Menendez two,

they had to go old school
and bring in a sketch artist.

But the way it turned out
is people were still wanting

to hear
every detail of this case.

Mic check, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 --

And so every time
there was a break in court,

I would go outside
on the courthouse steps

and report live everything
that happened in the courtroom.

The prosecution is differing
this time in that

they are focusing so much

on the really gruesome,
ugly details

of what two shotguns
can do to two people.

Abrahamson:
And the big, big, big change

was that David Conn
took over as the prosecutor.

This is a clear-cut case
of first-degree murder,

and we hope that
we will convince a jury

of that this time around.

I thought, "I'm not doing
this trial again.

I don't have to do this trial
again,"

and so that's when I said,
you know,

"I'd rather chew ground glass
for a year

than try this case again."

Abrahamson: David was absolutely
no-nonsense.

His idea from the get-go
was facts, facts, facts.

What happened here,
and who is responsible?

The molestation began...

Stevenson:
He had the benefit of knowing

what happened
in the first trial...

He just said
that it was our secret.

...to be able to craft
what would happen

in the second trial.

I think that we have now seen

the defense
take their best shot.

We have the advantage
of hindsight.

We know exactly
where they're going.

There are no more surprises.

Our starting point is that David
and I never believed,

for a moment,
that they were abused.

Conn: There is no medical
evidence whatsoever

to corroborate
the claim of the defendants.

There are no eyewitnesses.

So how can they really say
that the defendants are telling

the truth
concerning the allegations?

The facts were --
when you look at them

and you analyze them
objectively,

they don't support abuse.

Allegations of abuse
that deadlocked the first juries

are largely banned
from the second trial.

Much to my shock,
the second trial,

the rules completely changed.

All this information
about the sexual abuse

and the terror and sadism,
the judge ruled was irrelevant.

The judge just whittles away
at our defense,

makes it smaller
and smaller and smaller,

and this jury doesn't have
as much information

as the last juries had.

As a jury, you are stuck,
for better or worse,

with the testimony
and with the evidence

that you're allowed to see.

I'm not able to make my decision

based on facts
that I couldn't see.

Abrahamson: David Conn's plan
in the second trial

was to shut Leslie Abramson
down at every turn.

Major motions, objection.

Minor motions, objection.

Abramson: What's taking place in
the courtroom today

was a clear effort,
on the part of the prosecution,

to prevent this jury
from hearing the truth

of Erik's life.

Constant objection.

He objected when there
was anything

that would show the brothers
in sort of an innocent light.

I objected because I don't think
that the judge

has to allow a witness
to cry as much as he wants to,

while everyone just sits
in the courtroom,

waiting for him to stop.

It's such an obvious ploy,

that they're trying
to dehumanize,

you know, these brothers
in order

to desperately
get a conviction.

Stevenson: She was definitely
cut off at every turn because,

by now, the prosecutors knew
that this was her strategy,

and I think she felt like
the judge wasn't fair to her.

The same kind of objections were
not made in the first trial,

by prosecutors who were far more
mature and wise and experienced

and professional
than Mr. Conn is.

I think he's a punk.

♪♪

Wolfberg: We were given the case
to go back in the jury room

and finally start to deliberate.

It was on the eve
of the verdict.

They had almost
all the votes in place.

Wolfberg: I said, "Well, it's
later in the afternoon,

and the defendants would have to
come back and all the attorneys.

We could be here until 6:30
or 7:00 at night."

So, at that point,
it was decided,

"Okay, we'll finish up in the
morning and see how it goes."

The next morning, we show up,

and two of our fellow jurors
were not there.

Stevenson: The jury forewoman
had a heart attack,

and another juror,
on that same night,

went into premature labor.

And we would have to begin
deliberations all over.

Erik did tell me that the stress
of the trial

was so severe that,

by the second time around,

it was almost more
than they can do.

Camerota: Nearly seven years
after the murders

and after two trials,

news of potential closure
came down.

Stevenson: We got notice that
there was a verdict.

Everybody came out to hear what
that verdict was going to be

because that would finally be
the ending of the story.

It's about to happen.
It's about to happen.

The new foreperson was sitting
right next to me,

and I just remember his hands
shaking when it came time.

All the attention
in the courtroom was on us.

The jury has reached
guilty verdicts

on first-degree murder
for both brothers,

for the charges of killing both
their mother and their father.

It wasn't going to be
an undecided jury anymore.

[ Cheering ]

The jury has convicted
the Menendez brothers

of first-degree murder.

They will spend the rest
of their lives in prison.

I really can't say.
Excuse us.

It was good for morale.
I will say that.

We want justice to be done.

The guilty verdicts were read
one by one,

and there was absolute silence
throughout.

Leslie Abramson was very silent.

When the second jury
came back guilty,

I went into the dumper
because they won,

and I didn't,
and it was hard.

It was just personally
very devastating.

Johnson, Jr.: There was
pathology in that household.

Did Jose and Kitty
deserve to be murdered for it?

No, absolutely not.

Did Erik and Lyle deserve
to be sent to prison for it?

Yes, absolutely.

Dr. Vicary: I'm not satisfied
that the criminal justice system

really did justice
in this case,

and that a lesser sentence would
have been more appropriate.

We did think there was
psychological abuse

to some extent.

Sexual abuse,

I don't think we will ever know
if that's true or not.

It was also an area
that did not necessarily

have to be answered
to reach a verdict.

Wolfberg:
I have no doubts I did my job,

with the evidence that we
were allowed to consider.

You know, I came
to the right decision.

Personally I think
it's a good thing

we finally got a verdict
in this case.

I think that Leslie Abramson
in particular,

on behalf of Erik Menendez,

may have a pretty decent
appellate argument

after the sentencing,

on the issue of whether
the judge, in fact, cut her case

or gutted her case.

The legal part is over,
but the human part continues.

As the years go by,
I think of those guys

in their 8-by-10 cells
for the rest of their lives.

What a waste.
They had everything.

Rand: The brothers asked to be
sent to the same prison

so they could be together,
and the Beverly Hills police

opposed that because they said
they were co-conspirators,

and therefore,
they might conspire

to commit another crime.

I have not spoken to Lyle
in over 10 years.

I have not seen him
in over 10 years.

The last time I saw Lyle,
we were --

It was 3:00 in the morning,

and we were put
in separate vans.

Christian: The brothers are both
in prison in California.

They're in their 40s now,
which is so hard to imagine

because you think of them
as the boys

that they were portrayed as
during the first trial.

I was able to meet Erik
in person

when he was sentenced to Folsom.

I don't even know how to explain
what it was like.

We were establishing
a bond of some kind,

which has continued
all through these years,

and our trial
was over in 1994,

so I'm talking about
a lot of years.

Dr. Vicary: The interesting
thing about Erik in prison

is that he has really thrived,

and he has become the person
responsible for the prisoners

that are working
in the hospice unit.

He is taking college courses,
and he is getting straight A's.

Dr. Vicary: Lyle has had a more
stormy course in prison.

He can be arrogant,

and he can be manipulative
and narcissistic,

and he tends to alienate
other prisoners.

They both married behind bars,

although I don't believe
they're allowed conjugal visits.

I think Lyle has been married
twice, actually.

We're back with Erik Menendez
and Tammi Menendez.

They are married.

They are happily married.

I can't see my life
without Erik.

He's my best friend,
and he's a really good person.

Erik: Tammi and I talk about
what happened that night,

and I tell her everything,
and she's --

It's --
her love has allowed me

to really begin the long road
to healing.

At the end of it all,
the Menendez brothers

were sentenced
both to life in prison,

but still today,

questions remain about what
their motive was

and whether or not
killing their parents

was actually justified.

-Yes, I do.
-Please take the stand --

Stevenson: I heard iteration
after iteration

after iteration
of their stories,

and I went through believing
them and not believing them.

I've never been able to come
to my own conclusion

about exactly why it happened.

Abrahamson: I always thought

that Lyle
was the pathological problem.

He was the older brother.

He exerted incredible,
if not undue,

influence
on his younger brother.

Erik was probably smarter
than Lyle,

even though he didn't go
to Princeton.

Erik was more conniving.

I feel like this was Lyle's
show, and Erik followed,

and that's why he was
more distraught the whole time.

King: Do you ever regret
what you did?

Erik:
Immensely so, immensely so.

If he hadn't felt such guilt
over what they did,

they probably wouldn't
even be in prison today

because no one would have known
that they were the murderers.

They just did it because
they were little bastards

and greedy ones, at that.

Erik: Not a day goes by
when I don't wish

I didn't do this,
when I could bring them back.

It's my unending regret,
and, in a sense,

it's my real prison.

In 1999, citing the inability

to present their full abuse
defense in their second trial,

Lyle and Erik Menendez

challenged their life sentence
convictions from prison.

They lost in 2005
in the U.S. Court of Appeals.

But now,
a new California statute

could possibly give Lyle
and Erik

one final chance at freedom.

Penal code 1473.5 cites
jailed abuse victims,

who are unable to present
their full defense,

can "seek a new trial
or a reduced sentence."

The brothers have until
January 1, 2020 to file.

I'm Hill Harper.
Thanks for watching.

♪♪