CA - Court upholds Menendez brothers' convictions

[Noirdame79]

Menendez: A Killing In Beverly Hills (1994) is a two-part miniseries that aired on CBS in June 1994.

Karen Lamm ( June 21, 1952 – June 29, 2001) was a model, actress, and film producer. She was married and divorced twice from Beach Boy Dennis Wilson, which was her main claim to fame. Lamm claimed to have befriended Kitty Menendez in the last year of her life and said that Kitty confided in her about family problems (which doesn't seem to fit with Kitty's nature), but she maintained in an interview on The Joan Rivers Show in the autumn of 1993 that the problems were caused by Lyle. Rivers mentioned during the interview that Lamm was involved as a producer of a TV movie based on "her account of the crime", which would air in the late spring of 1994, Menendez: A Killing In Beverly Hills, which Lamm was credited as executive producer and Dominick Dunne's articles in Vanity Fair magazine listed as a source. In the interview, a brief clip was shown of Lyle's testimony where he revealed his father sexually abused him. Lamm said she never believed that, she thinks Lyle was "a good actor" and said it was impossible for a young adult male to be sexually abused by his father.

From the book Bad Blood, by Don Davis, published in 1994:
New World Television and CBS were able to announce in March of 1990, the same month the boys were arrested, that an agreement had been reached on what show business types call a "development". Their contact was actress Karen Lamm, who had known Kitty Menendez for a year. Under Hollywood rules, this qualified the slender blonde as a total confidante of the murdered woman. Lamm, who had also happened to be an aspiring producer, knew a good thing when she saw it and explained to the Los Angeles Times that she had begun her push the previous December to scare away any potential competitors. "It's piranhas coming at each other, and they're all ready to bite, The point in announcing it as quickly as we did is that we were on this months ago, and this is a done deal, and it's important to let people know that," she said. At this point, there were still three years before the case would go to trial.

Lamm stated that she did not believe the sexual abuse, and Dunne always publicly claimed that he didn't believe the sexual abuse either. This explains why, apart from depicting a few incidents of physical and emotional abuse from Jose (played by Edward James Olmos) on his sons (played by Damian Chapa and Travis Fine) in the first half of the miniseries, the sexual abuse wasn't brought up until the second half when the brothers were testifying about it. There are no flashbacks, or any indication that sexual abuse took place other than the brothers' testimonies, and the corroborating testimony and evidence are never shown either. This was because Lamm and Dunne wanted to give the impression that the sexual abuse never happened and that it was fabricated while the brothers were awaiting trial (a theory that the prosecution in both trials, heavily insinuated, but had no evidence to support it). It also explains the portrayal of Kitty (played by Beverly D'Angelo); she is depicted as being a victim of everyone, which is clearly how Lamm wanted her to be portrayed, but of course, if you've watched the first trial, this is not an accurate portrayal of her. There's no doubt that this miniseries (along with another TV dramatization about the case that had aired a few months earlier) poisoned the jury pool and, along with Dunne's articles (which also conveniently left out the corroborative evidence) have presented a very prosecution-biased slant on the case.

This is a video of Dominick Dunne, Karen Lamm, and A.J. Benza interviewed on The Joan Rivers Show in
1993.

 

[Noirdame79]

2023 mugshots

 

[Noirdame79]

The house in Pennington, New Jersey, where the Menendez family lived before moving to California



This was the first house the family lived in when they moved to Los Angeles - the Calabasas mansion on Mulholland Highway



The Beverly Hills house on North Elm Drive (the second photo shows a view of part of the backyard, with the guest house

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[Quiet Time]

Thank you. I'll be watching.

 

[Noirdame79]

I hope I'll be able to watch this documentary, and hopefully, it will present both sides. I fully expect Kitty's surviving brother Milton Andersen to claim that there was no abuse (he's already called Roy Rosello a liar) but keep in mind that he, his late brother Brian, and their father Charles disliked Jose until he started making a lot of money, and then they wanted to be his friend. Brian also filed a document in probate court during the first trial that stated that he and his stepmother were entitled to a share of the estate because it appeared that Kitty had died after Jose. The probate judge stated that he wouldn't make a ruling unless Lyle and Erik were convicted, and then he agreed to testify as a rebuttal prosecution witness (he had refused to testify for either side prior to this). Ironic how Kitty's brothers always claimed that the killings were money-motivated, but it seems that they were the greedy ones.

 

[Quiet Time]

Unfortunately, I was unable to watch the program. The rainy/windy weather messed up the reception for my local channel. However, I did catch the older brother? at the beginning saying that he didn't believe that the boys were abused.

 

[Noirdame79]

Unfortunately, I was unable to watch the program. The rainy/windy weather messed up the reception for my local channel. However, I did catch the older brother? at the beginning saying that he didn't believe that the boys were abused.

Yes, Kitty's brothers (the other one is now deceased) are the only family members who didn't support Lyle and Erik. He's also called Roy Rosello a liar.

 

[iluvmua]

How many relatives of the Menendez brothers are still alive?

 

[Noirdame79]

How many relatives of the Menendez brothers are still alive?

Their father's sisters, their mother's sister and brother, and most of their cousins.

 

[Quiet Time]

Their father's sisters, their mother's sister and brother, and most of their cousins.

That's a lot of people to have to speak up for you..

 

[Noirdame79]

That's a lot of people to have to speak up for you..

Only Kitty's surviving brother speaks out against Lyle and Erik. The rest support them. Their grandmother Maria Menendez also stood by them until the day she died.

 

[iluvmua]

Only Kitty's surviving brother speaks out against Lyle and Erik. The rest support them. Their grandmother Maria Menendez also stood by them until the day she died.

That says a lot

 

[Recidivist]

Free the boys!

 

[Noirdame79]

For years, the myth that the abuse was fabricated and that the brothers were acting on the stand has persisted because the prosecution (and certain people who were affiliated with the prosecution) have continually spread misinformation and outright lies that the abuse was concocted by the Menendez brothers, their defense attorneys, etc. Not only were all of these people (Pamela Bozanich, the late David Conn, Carol Najera, the late Les Zoeller, and the late Dominick Dunne) aware that there was evidence of abuse presented at the first trial, but they also knew that there is no evidence that the abuse was fabricated. They also tended to promote the "they did it for the money" theory when it was never proven in either trial. By far, the most vocal is Pamela Bozanich, one of the prosecutors in the first trial, who has made a point of appearing in many documentaries about the case so she can continue to promote misinformation. As recently as February 2023, she was still claiming that there was no sexual abuse (although she has no problem admitting that there were other types of abuse going on). Notice that she was conspicuously absent from the 48 Hours segment, that was not a coincidence in my opinion, because then she would have been confronted with what she has said during past interviews (as well as in the first trial) as well as with Roy Rosello's accusations against Jose Menendez. She also identifies with Kitty Menendez far too much and even admitted at one point that she took a crime scene photo of her from evidence and keeps it as a memento.

 

[Noirdame79]

Roy Rosello (bottom right) with other Menudo members, group owner Edgardo Diaz, and Jose Menendez, circa 1984. The boy standing next to Diaz is his cousin, Ricky Melendez, who left the group shortly after this photo was taken and was replaced by Ricky Martin.



Kitty Menendez and her brother Milton Andersen. Along with his brother Brian, he is the only family member who didn't support Lyle and Erik. Milton testified for the prosecution in the second trial.

Lyle and his cousin Brian Alan Andersen, who testified for the defense in both trials



Erik and one of his high school girlfriends, Kirsten Smith, who testified for the defense in the second trial



Erik and his cousin, Karen Vandermolen. This photo was taken at the Beverly Hills house a few weeks before the killings. Karen later stated that she felt Erik wanted to tell her something, but they were never alone together.

 

[WyomingSkyAngel]

I'm glad all of this information has come to light. Back when this all happened, the public assumed the brothers were spoiled and evil. The truth was more complicated than that.

"If you see something, say something" is the main credo to prevent child abuse.

 

[Noirdame79]

I'm glad all of this information has come to light. Back when this all happened, the public assumed the brothers were spoiled and evil. The truth was more complicated than that.

"If you see something, say something" is the main credo to prevent child abuse.

I agree. Looking back to the start of this thread and going through it, you can actually see how things have changed. A big problem was that Jose Menendez was wealthy and powerful; people were afraid of him, even his family members. It's interesting that the family members who support Lyle and Erik (at this point, there's only one that doesn't) have stated that they forgive the brothers for killing their parents, but they don't forgive the parents for abusing their children. That says so much.

 

[Noirdame79]

Honor Thy Father And Mother: The True Story Of The Menendez Murders (1994) is a television movie that aired on the Fox network in April 1994 starring James Farentino, Jill Clayburgh, Billy Warlock, and David Beron. It was based on the book Blood Brothers by Ron Soble and John Johnson, reporters from the L.A. Times who covered the first trial. While in the book, the writers tried to present both sides, it is prosecution-biased. In terms of the movie, unlike Menendez: A Killing In Beverly Hills, this presentation does show one flashback that hints of sexual abuse about to happen, but this is undermined by the fact that the film, when depicting the trial, does not portray any of the corroborative defense testimony or witnesses, and emphasizes the prosecution witnesses (Dr. Oziel, Craig Cignarelli, Jamie Piscarsik, etc) and treats them as credible, but leaves out the fact that they were all discredited during cross-examination. As Jose and Kitty, Farentino and Clayburgh only appear in flashbacks. While they didn't have much screen time, they both did a decent job; Clayburgh, in particular, did a good job capturing Kitty as the bitter, uncaring alcoholic who cared more about keeping her philandering and cruel husband than protecting her children. Like the later Law & Order miniseries, there are also flashbacks as to what led up to the killings (as indicated by Lyle and Erik's testimony), but again, this is undermined by the film treating the unreliable prosecution witnesses as credible. Looking at the movie, it seems to be a cross between hinting that Lyle and Erik were lying about the sexual abuse and what led up to the killings, and Fox wanting the audience to "make up their own minds" as to what happened. The actors did a good job, considering the amount of time they had, and while Farentino gave a reasonably good performance, I don't think any actor could capture Jose Menendez as he was. It would be far too difficult. The prosecution bias is also obvious in its portrayal of the brothers, especially Lyle (the same can be said for the above-mentioned CBS miniseries).

 

[Smelly Squirrel]

The 48 Hours episode is on youtube.

Their timeline here.

Inside the story of the notorious Menendez brothers case

Lyle and Erik Menendez were sentenced to life in prison for killing their parents. Now, more than three decades later, they are hoping new evidence could reopen the case.

www.cbsnews.com

I watched and I am convinced they were abused. I believe they should be freed. if that evidence was available in the trial, they likely would have gotten a lighter sentence if convicted. moo