Menendez Therapist Testifies in Private

Two key witnesses in the Menendez murder case were called to testify behind closed doors Friday at a hearing to determine whether tape-recordings of the defendants’ psychotherapy sessions must remain confidential.

Beverly Hills psychologist Jerome Oziel was questioned on the second full day of secret hearings. However, testimony from Judalon Rose Smyth, a former patient and friend of Oziel who contacted police after learning of allegedly incriminating statements made by Lyle and Erik Menendez, was postponed until June 27. Santa Monica Superior Court Judge James Albracht ordered the courtroom cleared on Grounds that the discussions would center on whether the exchanges were privileged doctor-patient communications and therefore inadmissible as evidence.

The two brothers are charged with the shotgun slayings of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home last August. Their arrest in March was precipitated by tape recordings turned over by Oziel to authorities armed with a search warrant. Law enforcement authorities have said the audiotapes contain a confession by both defendants as well as tHreats made against Oziel and others.

Although the public was excluded from most of Friday’s hearing, reporters, photographers and the public still were present when the brothers entered the courtroom, under heavy guard by five deputies, in handcuffs and rumpled blue jail clothing. Despite a Sheriff’s Department statement that it erred in suggesting that either defendant had attempted to escape at last week’s hearing, Albracht denied a request that they be allowed to change into civilian clothes as they have in the past.

Relatives expressed outrage, saying the brothers were being paraded before television cameras as part of “an attempt to humiliate and bring them down.” They said that Erik Menendez’s nose appeared swollen and bruised, the result, they said, of an alleged jail beating Tuesday.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Joaquin Herran said late Friday that authorities had investigated the alleged incident and determined that no altercation occurred.

He said that stepped-up security was being continued because authorities are still investigating how a chain binding Lyle Menendez’s ankles came to be cut before last Friday’s court session.

Neither Oziel nor Smyth returned a reporter’s calls.

Oziel, 43, is the target of a lawsuit filed in Santa Monica Superior Court by Smyth, 37, two weeks ago, alleging physical and sexual assault and fraud. In the civil action, Smyth alleges that the psychologist developed an intimate relationship with her while she was his patient, threatened, choked and struck her on several occasions, raped her, gave her drugs, and coerced her into signing a $5,000 promissory note for money she believed to be a gift.

Oziel has denied that Smyth was his girlfriend, saying only that their relationship is legally confidential.

Smyth’s attorney, Fred Rucker, said his client, who runs her own audio and videotaping duplication business, had contacted Oziel after hearing a self-help tape he had made. Rucker said that an informal therapeutic relationship evolved into a personal one, and that Smyth lived in the psychologist’s Sherman Oaks home with Oziel and his wife for three months, ending in March.

However, attorney Bradley Brunon, who represents Oziel, called Smyth’s allegations “completely untrue,” and characterized her behavior as “an unfortunate real-life enactment of the scenario in (the movie) ‘Fatal Attraction.”’

Brunon said Smyth was never Oziel’s patient, but met him while trying to sell him her tape duplication service. He described the relationship as “a romantic liaison.”

“She developed a romantic fixation upon him and, because she refused to accept the fact that he did not reciprocate her feelings, she has waged a malevolent campaign against Dr. Oziel, his family and his businesss,” Brunon said. “She has twisted reality to the point where it is unrecognizable.”

Rucker described Smyth as “down to earth but vulnerable.”

Rucker said he has also filed a complaint with the state Board of Medical Quality Assurance on Smyth’s behalf.

“There are at least two other similar civil actions pending against Oziel,” Rucker said. “They are not traditional malpractice claims but tend to go beyond the pale.”