The Menendez Brothers: An Unusual Case

      Lyle and Erik Menendez were two brothers. In 1989 they shot and killed their wealthy parents with a shotgun, allegedly to inherit their money. However, their trial had many interesting aspects to it.
     One, the defense they claimed was that they committed the murders because of years of sexual and emotional abuse they suffered at the hands of their parents. They claimed the sexual abuse primarily came from their father while their mother encouraged the abuses due to her being a selfish, mentally unstable alcoholic and drug addict.
     Two, like the OJ trial, the case was broadcast into people's homes becoming a national sensation and turning the court system into people's entertainment.
     Three, because there were two of them, they both had to be tried. Their individual first trials both ended with deadlocked juries. For the second trial, there was less publicity (this time no cameras were allowed in the courtroom), the boys were tried together, the jury only voted on murder charges (the manslaughter charges were removed), and the defense testimony about the sexual abuse claims didn't get as much leash as they had in the first trial.
      To me, these three things made the trial intriguing. The defense was unusual, the courtroom had again become an entertainment center, and like the OJ criminal to a civil trial, things were done a bit differently the second time around with the prosecution learning from their mistakes.