Developments in the retrial of Lyle and Erik Menendez from Jan. 15 - 19.
JANUARY 15
The court was in recess.
JANUARY 16
A cousin of the Menendez brothers offered the first evidence to corroborate Erik Menendez's claims of sexual and physical abuse.
Brian Alan Andersen said Jose Menendez terrorized his sons by brandishing a belt when he came home from work. He would snap the belt on the coffee table or couch as Kitty Menendez rattled off a list of reasons to discipline the brothers. Andersen also testified that Jose Menendez took showers with Erik and Lyle when they were teenagers.
During cross-examination, prosecutor David Conn tried to establish that Andersen was biased in favor of the brothers. He pointed out that Andersen refused to speak with prosecutors.
Andersen also admitted that Lyle Menendez gave him $8,500 just weeks before the brothers were arrested in March 1990. Andersen needed the money to pay a hospital bill. Conn suggested that if Andersen testified for Lyle, then Lyle would not make him pay back the money. But Andersen said he told Lyle that he could not repay the money because his daughter is dying and he was having trouble paying those medical bills.
Andersen said his father refused to offer financial assistance because he is estranged from the family. Brian Andersen Sr. was the only family member to testify for the prosecution in the case.
JANUARY 17
A cousin of the Menendez brothers testified that Jose Menendez spent hours with Erik behind the closed door of his bedroom -- a claim the defense says is evidence of sexual molestation.
The witness, Diane Vander Molen, testified that Jose Menendez terrified his son by "roaring at him," and that he was "fierce in his anger." Vander Molen broke down in tears as she told jurors how Kitty Menendez would scream at Erik for making mistakes on his homework.
"Erik was just a kid," she testified. "He was just trying to get it right."
Vander Molen lived at the Menendez home for months at a time in the 1970s and early 1980s. In the first trial, she offered evidence of possible sexual molestation when she said that when Lyle was eight years old, he hold her that his father had been touching his genitals.
Judge Stanley Weisberg barred Vander Molen from testifying about the incident, ruling it irrelevant since Lyle has not yet testified.
During a dramatic cross-examination, prosecutor David Conn challenged Vander Molen's accounts of Kitty Menendez's temper tantrums. But through his questioning, he allowed the witness to describe in detail the frightening, unpredictable violent rages that Kitty Menendez would fly into.
JANUARY 18
The defense offered additional testimony about possible abuse in the Menendez home.
The witnesses included Kathy Simonton, a cousin of the brothers, who testified how Jose Menendez treated his sons when he taught them how to swim. She said he dunked their heads under water until they kicked, flailed, choked and cried.
Additional testimony came from Dr. Kerry English who reviewed Erik's childhood medical records. He said Erik suffered an injury to the back of his throat that could be consistent with forced oral sex.
JANUARY 19
The defense presented expert testimony to explain why Erik Menendez never tried to escape the alleged abuse at the hands of his father.
Dr. John Wilson testified about what he called the common misconceptions about victims of child abuse. Two of the misconceptions, he said, are that abuse victims can just pack up and leave their abusers and that abuse victims reveal their situations.
Dr. Wilson explained that more than 90 percent of children who are abused never run away from home. Abuse victims, he said, suffer from "a learned helplessness," characterized by a dependency on the abuser that is nearly impossible to break.
Erik became especially dependent because his parents controlled every aspect of his life, Dr. Wilson said. Erik did not believe he could leave home or that he had anywhere else to go. Dr. Wilson said Erik did not know any other way of life than the one he had at home -- regardless of how abusive the environment.
The prosecution repeatedly asked Erik why he did not leave home to escape the alleged abuse by his father. Prosecutors also wanted to know why he never told friends or relatives about the abuse.
Dr. Wilson told jurors that abuse victims almost never divulge that they are being abused. Wilson said incest victims usually take months or years of therapy before they reveal such secrets.
Dr. Wilson began testifying last week but his testimony was interrupted because of a scheduling conflict. He previously testified that Erik has been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder since he was a child, and that he was suffering from it on the night of the shootings.
