Last-Minute Jockeying in Menendez Case : Courts: Prosecution tries to strengthen its charge that brothers killed their parents out of greed. The defense discloses new claims about abuse.

Jockeying for advantage on the eve of trial, prosecutors Monday provided new details about their claim that greed drove Lyle and Erik Menendez to kill their parents, while the defense countered with new disclosures about the alleged abuse the brothers endured.

The brothers “bragged” to their therapist that they had committed the “perfect murder,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Lester Kuriyama said in a court hearing Monday. Erik Menendez also confided in the therapist that his father, Jose Menendez, had “nearly disinherited” him, which fueled the brothers’ desire to kill, Kuriyama claimed.

Defense attorneys responded that the brothers killed their parents after years of abuse. On Monday, they depicted Kitty Menendez as a suicidal and obsessive mother who drank to excess, abused drugs, bullied her sons and provoked them to kill. “Her children were afraid of her,” defense attorney Leslie Abramson said. “That’s why she’s dead.”

Charged with first-degree murder, Lyle Menendez, 25, and Erik Menendez, 22, go on trial today in Van Nuys Superior Court for the Aug. 20, 1989, shotgun slayings of their parents. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Jose Menendez, 45, and Kitty Menendez, 47, were killed in the living room of the family’s $4-million Beverly Hills mansion. Jose Menendez was the chief executive of Live Entertainment, a Van Nuys video distribution firm. Friends and relatives have described Kitty Menendez as a supportive wife and mother.

Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg has impaneled two juries, ruling that some evidence is admissible against only one of the brothers. The judge has said the trial may last until Thanksgiving.

The trial, which has drawn interest from around the world, figures to turn on the defense claim that the brothers killed in self-defense after years of abuse.

In the early stages of the case, neither the brothers nor their lawyers had much to say, except for pleading not guilty. But last month, Abramson, Erik Menendez’s lead attorney, said in court that the brothers would admit to the killings, but added that they had been driven to it by years of mental and physical abuse from both parents.

Earlier this month, Abramson said in an interview that Jose Menendez had sexually molested his younger son for 12 years, from age 6 to 18. Sources told The Times that Jose Menendez had molested Lyle Menendez for two years, from age 6 to 8.

The defense Monday focused on Kitty Menendez. Seeking permission from Weisberg to detail her past, defense lawyers alleged that she tried to commit suicide in 1987, claimed that she taped her sons’ phone calls, and spent years tracking and photographing her husband’s mistress.

Jill Lansing, Lyle Menendez’s lead attorney, alleged that Kitty Menendez maintained a “facade of reality” but was “in fact an extremely frightening and dangerous person.”

Weisberg said he was unsure if some of the details were relevant in the case. He granted defense lawyers permission to depict Kitty Menendez as “unstable” or “obsessive” in opening statements today but barred the defense from going into detail. Jurors were not present during the hearing Monday.

Weisberg ruled in favor of the prosecution in another motion, saying that the tape-recording of an emotional Lyle Menendez calling 911 to report his parents’ deaths was admissible against both brothers. Weisberg said the tape had “great relevance” to the case.

On the tape, the caller, sobbing heavily, his words almost incoherent, tells a dispatcher: “They shot and killed my parents!”

Later, the dispatcher asks, “Who shot who?”

“I didn’t hear anything,” is the response. “I just came home.”

Prosecutor Kuriyama had argued that the 911 call and the brothers’ alleged disclosures to their therapist proved the existence of a conspiracy to kill their parents.

Part of the conspiracy, Kuriyama alleged, is that the brothers fabricated an alibi, initially telling authorities that they had gone to the movies and came home to find their parents dead.

Two prosecutors and two defense attorneys plan to make opening statements today. After that, the prosecution plans to call the first of 20 to 30 witnesses, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Pamela Bozanich.

Reversing an earlier ruling, Weisberg said he would allow one TV camera in the courtroom.