Menedez Brothers & the `abuse excuse`

Summary

Many cases catch the public eye but the Menendez Brothers ' conviction offered a different taste of drama because of its brutality and the relationships of the defendants to the people they murdered

Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents on the night of August 20 1989 at their family home in Beverly Hills . The first trial ended in a deadlock because the jury was not able to decide whether they should be convicted of first degree murder or manslaughter . Should first-degree murder be the verdict , the conviction can give the brothers

as high as a death penalty charge while manslaughter , a less condemned murder conviction can let them regain their freedom after years of sentence (Plaintiff and Respondent , par . 4

The second trial started on October 11 , 1996 with Deputy District Attorney David Conn being on the side of the prosecution and Attorneys Leslie Abramson and Charles A . Gessler being on the defendants ' fence Conn wanted to establish that the cause of the murder was greed for the 14M inheritance while the defendants claimed that they only shot their parents as a result of fear and the abuse they suffered in their hands

Conn claimed that right after the murder , the brothers went to the home of a probate attorney along with their parents ' vault to look for the will . The safe was opened two days after the murder in the presence of two of the boys ' uncles . One of the uncles , Carlos Baralt , testified to the fact that...