Lyle & Erik Menendez

Case summary

Joseph Lyle Menendez (born January 10, 1968) and Erik Galen Menendez (born November 27, 1970) were brothers who were convicted for the shotgun murders in 1989 of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, residents of Beverly Hills, California. Under the terms of the sentences for their multiple crimes, the brothers were expected to spend the remainder of their lives in prison.

Timeline

• 10 Jan 1968 — Joseph Lyle Menendez was born.
• 27 Nov 1970 — Erik Galen Menendez was born.
• 20 Aug 1989 — Jose and Kitty Menendez were killed by multiple shotgun blasts in their Beverly Hills mansion at 722 North Elm Drive; Lyle and Erik were described as spending the next few months flaunting their wealth.
• 8 Mar 1990 — Lyle Menendez was arrested.
• 11 Mar 1990 — Erik Menendez was arrested.
• 8 Dec 1992 — The Menendez brothers were indicted for the murder of their parents.
• 13 Jan 1994 — After deliberating for 16 days, Erik’s jury announced it was deadlocked; Judge Stanley Weisberg declared a mistrial after Lyle’s jury later announced deadlock.
• 28 Feb 1995 — Judge Stanley Weisberg declared that the second Menendez brothers trial would begin in June, though it was later postponed until August.
• 20 Mar 1996 — After four days of deliberation, both brothers were found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder.
• 2 Jul 1996 — The Menendez brothers were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
• 31 Jan 1997 — Lyle Menendez married his longtime pen pal Anna Eriksson in a telephone ceremony while in prison; the marriage did not last a year.
• 16 Jun 1999 — Erik Menendez married Tammi Ruth Saccoman at California State Prison, in a telephone ceremony in the prison visiting room.
• 21 Nov 2003 — Lyle Menendez married Rebecca Sneed in a ceremony at Mule Creek State Prison, near Sacramento, CA.

Background

The Menendez brothers grew up in Princeton, New Jersey. Both attended Princeton Day School for grade school. Lyle attended Princeton University. After the family moved to California in 1987 when Jose Menendez got a job at Carolco, Erik attended high school in Calabasas, California.

Lyle was placed on academic probation at Princeton for poor grades and disciplinary probation and eventually dropped out after allegations of plagiarism.

The offence

The murders occurred on August 20, 1989, in the den of the family’s 722 North Elm Drive home in Beverly Hills, California. Jose and Kitty were tired that summer evening because the family had been out shark fishing on a chartered yacht, Motion Picture Marine, until midnight the previous day. With Lyle and Erik out for the evening, both Jose and Kitty retired to the den to watch the James Bond thriller The Spy Who Loved Me.

Around 10 pm, neighbors reported hearing what sounded like firecrackers and dismissed it as nothing to be concerned about. Jose was shot point-blank in the back of the head with a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun. Kitty, awakened by the shots, sprang from the couch and made a run for the hallway but was shot in the leg, causing it to break. She slipped in her own blood and fell. When she fell, she was shot several times in the arm, chest, and face, leaving her unrecognizable. Both Jose and Kitty were then shot in the kneecap to make the crime appear mob related.

After the shootings, the brothers drove off and dumped their shotguns on Mulholland Drive and bought tickets at a local movie theater, seeing Licence to Kill to use as an alibi.

At 11:47 pm, when the brothers returned home, Lyle called 911 and cried, “Somebody killed my parents!”

Investigation

The police immediately considered the brothers suspects, but had no leads.

In the investigation described, Jose was said to have frequently left the alarm system off and the gates open, even after Jose’s Mercedes-Benz 560SEL was stolen from the front circular driveway of the house, just weeks before the murders. Kitty was described as agitated in the time leading up to the murders, constantly locking her bedroom door at night and keeping a rifle in her wardrobe for safekeeping.

Kitty mentioned to her psychiatrist, a few weeks before the murders, that she was afraid her sons might be sociopaths. In the days leading up to the killings, Kitty went to her therapist and told him that she feared her sons were sociopaths.

In the months after the murders, investigators described that the brothers had led a life of luxury and lavish spending, which later added to investigators’ suspicions that they had been involved in their parents’ deaths. Lyle was described as buying an expensive Rolex watch, a Porsche Carrera, and Chuck’s Spring Street Cafe, a Buffalo wings restaurant in Princeton. Erik was described as hiring a full-time tennis coach and competing in a tournament in Israel. The brothers were described as living in separate penthouse apartments in Marina Del Rey and driving late their mother’s Mercedes-Benz SL convertible.

Prosecutors later alleged that the brothers spent about $1 million in their first six months as orphans.

A confession to a psychiatrist was described as part of how the police became suspicious: the police did not suspect the brothers until Erik confessed to his psychiatrist, who after Lyle threatened him told the police, with reference to an exception to doctor-patient confidentiality for threats by a patient.

Autopsy information attributed to Dr. Irwin Golden was described as follows: Jose’s autopsy involved a “gaping laceration” of the shotgun wound to Jose’s head described as five inches by four inches. Soot was found in the wound, indicating the fatal shot was fired placed against the back of Jose’s head. Dr. Golden described a “deformity of the face” and fractures of the facial and jawbones. Dr. Golden testified that there was bleeding into Jose’s body tissues along all of the wound paths and stated that he could not determine the order of the shots fired at Jose.

Kitty’s autopsy was described as including a shot in the left cheek causing a one-inch hole in her face with fractures of the upper jaw and dislodging of upper teeth. Dr. Golden found birdshot in Kitty’s wounds, confirming investigators’ suspicions that the killers had reloaded their weapons.

The investigation described an elaborate memorial service staged by Lyle and Erik for Jose and Kitty on August 25, 1989 at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. It also described a traditional church service on August 28, 1989 at the university chapel in Princeton.

Arrest

Lyle was arrested on March 8, 1990. On that date, police were waiting nearby as Lyle traveled by vehicle toward a Cheesecake Factory meeting location similar to the brothers’ earlier evening plans. Police sought to arrest Lyle and did not surround or storm the mansion because Maria Menendez, Jose’s mother, was living there. Lyle’s vehicle crashed during the arrest attempt, and Lyle and his two friends were handcuffed and taken to the West Hollywood Sheriff’s station. Lyle was later booked and transported to the Los Angeles County Men’s Jail in downtown Los Angeles.

On March 11, 1990, after receiving information that Erik would return from Israel, Detectives Zoeller and Linehan met Erik and Marta at Los Angeles International Airport. Zoeller took Erik into custody and Erik was booked into the Los Angeles County Men’s jail.

The record described detectives searching for shotgun purchase information and eventually locating firearm records showing the sale of two Mossberg twelve-gauge shotguns for $199.95 each on August 18, 1989, with the form signed by Donovan Jay Goodreau and listing a San Diego address. The drivers license number on the form was described as matching Donovan’s, while the address on the form was described as phony and the signature described as not matching Donovan’s.

Trial

First trial (mistrial outcomes)

The Menendez brothers and murder of their parents became a national sensation when Court TV broadcast the trial in 1993. The trial ended in two deadlocked juries. Both brothers were tried together but each had a separate jury.

In 1992, the Menendez brothers were indicted by the Los Angeles County Grand Jury on charges that they murdered their parents. The indictment included special circumstances attached to the case, described as making them eligible for the death penalty based on a multiple murder while “lying in wait.” Another special circumstance described as relating to murder for financial gain was later thrown out by the grand jury.

The trial was held at the Los Angeles County Superior Court at the San Fernando Valley Government Center in Van Nuys with Judge Stanley Weisberg presiding. On May 14, 1993, Judge Weisberg ruled that the cases of Lyle and Erik Menendez would be tried together, with separate juries.

During the first trial, the record described pretrial and trial management including juror selection and evidentiary disputes involving tapes from Dr. Jerome Oziel. The record also described that Leslie Abramson allegedly ordered a defense witness, Dr. William Vicary, to alter his notes, and later described related motions for mistrial by both brothers during the penalty phase proceedings described in the overall record.

The first trial resulted in mistrials declared by Judge Weissberg after deadlocked juries:

• Erik’s jury was deadlocked after 16 days of deliberation, announced on January 13, 1994.
• Lyle’s jury was deadlocked after 24 days of deliberation, announced on January 25, 1994.

Second trial (conviction)

The second trial began in August 1995 after being postponed from June. The brothers were retried together in front of a single jury after a ruling that the advantages outweighed potential prejudice. The record described that opening statements began October 11, 1995 and that the trial was not televised.

On March 20, after four days of deliberation, the jury convicted the Menendez brothers each of two counts of first degree murder, as well as conspiracy to commit murder. Jurors also found two special circumstances attached to the murders: lying in wait and multiple murder.

The record described the penalty phase beginning March 22, 1996 and completed in three weeks. On April 17, 1996, after deliberating for three days, the jury decided that life in prison was the appropriate punishment for Lyle and Erik Menendez.

In the penalty phase deliberations described, the jury later said the abuse defense was never a factor in their deliberations and that they spared the brothers’ lives because neither brother had a felony record or a history of violence.

The record also described proceedings involving Dr. William Vicary’s notes and testimony in the penalty phase, including that Dr. Vicary admitted he doctored his notes and omitted sections containing incriminating statements by Erik Menendez, leading to defense motion developments and a denial of mistrials described as based on events occurring during the penalty phase.

Sentencing

On July 2, 1996, Judge Stanley Weisberg sentenced Lyle and Erik Menendez to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The record also described that the judge sentenced the brothers to consecutive sentences for the murders and the charge of conspiracy to commit murder.

Appeals and outcome

On February 27, 1998, the California Court of Appeal upheld the murder convictions. On May 28, 1998, the California Supreme Court voted to uphold the murder convictions and life-without-parole sentences, with none of the Supreme Court justices voting to review the case.

Aftermath

After sentencing, the brothers were separated in the California Department of Corrections system. On September 10, 1996, the California Department of Corrections separated the Menendez brothers, sending them to different prisons. Both were classified as maximum-security inmates and segregated from other prisoners. Lyle was held in Mule Creek State Prison in Ione and Erik was incarcerated at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga as described for a later period covered by the record.

The record described marriages while incarcerated:

• In January 1997, Lyle married longtime pen pal Anna Eriksson in a telephone ceremony; the marriage reportedly ended after less than a year after she discovered that Lyle was writing to another woman.
• In November 2003, Lyle married Rebecca Sneed, a 33-year-old magazine editor from Sacramento, at a ceremony in a maximum security visiting area of Mule Creek State Prison.
• In 1997, Erik was reportedly married through a telephone ceremony at Folsom State Prison.
• In June 1999, Erik married Tammi Ruth Saccoman, 37, at Folsom State Prison in a prison waiting room.

The record included Erik’s quoted statement about Tammi from an interview: “Tammi is what gets me through. I can't think about the sentence. When I do, I do it with a great sadness and a primal fear. I break into a cold sweat. It's so frightening I just haven't come to terms with it.”

The record described that both brothers were expected to spend the remainder of their lives in prison under the terms of their sentences.

Other details

The record described multiple other events, including alleged burglaries in July 1988 in Calabasas, Jose’s employment history and business roles, and family background details involving Jose and Kitty’s upbringing and marriage, as well as extensive trial and penalty phase proceedings.

Verbatim 911 call

Lyle’s 911 call was described as follows, with dispatcher and Lyle dialogue:

• Lyle: “Yes, police, uh...”
• Dispatcher: “What’s the problem?”
• Lyle: “We’re the sons (caller begins to sob)...”
• Dispatcher: “What’s the problem? What’s the problem?”
• Lyle: “(Still crying) They shot and killed my parents!”
• Dispatcher: “What? Who? Are they still there?”
• Lyle: “Yes.”
• Dispatcher: “The people who...”
• Lyle: “No, no.”
• Dispatcher: “They were shot?”
• Lyle: “Erik, man, don’t.”
• Dispatcher: “(Talking over the background sounds of screams and Lyle shouting, "Erik, shut up!") I have a hysterical person on the phone. Is the person still there?”
• Second Dispatcher: “What happened? Have you been able to figure out what happened?”
• Lyle: “I don’t know.”
• Second Dispatcher: “You came home and found who shot?”
• Lyle: “My mom and dad.”
• First Dispatcher: “Are they still in the house, the people who did the shooting?”
• Lyle: “(Screaming) Erik! Get away from them!”
• Second Dispatcher: “Who is the person who is shot?”
• Lyle: “My mom and dad!”

The call was described as only two and one-half minutes in length.

Verbatim statements and quotations included in the record

• Erik Menendez (to Oziel): “We did it. We killed out parents.”
• Vicary’s notes-related dispute was described as including a finding that Erik told Vicary that he thought about what it would be like to live without his parents, and that he and Lyle discussed doing something “drastic,” with no specification in the record of what “drastic” meant.
• On the Larry King show, the record included Erik’s quoted statement about not having spoken to his brother for more than ten years (with the record describing the same).
• Tammi Menendez (quoted): “Not having sex in my life is difficult, but it's not a problem for me. I have to be physically detached, and I'm emotionally attached to Erik... My friends don't understand. When it started to get serious, some of them just threw up their hands.”
• Tammi Menendez (quoted): “Our wedding cake was a Twinkie. We improvised. It was a wonderful ceremony until I had to leave. That was a very lonely night.”