Character Witness Assails Menendezes’ Psychologist : Trial: Defense uses woman’s testimony in bid to discredit therapist who has said in court that the brothers admitted murdering their parents.

A star prosecution witness in the Menendez brothers murder trial “makes David Koresh look like a saint,” a defense witness said Wednesday.

Pamela Lisa LiCausi was called to testify about the character of psychologist L. Jerome Oziel, who has said Erik and Lyle Menendez confessed to murdering their parents in 1989.

LiCausi testified that her former boss, Richard Kline, was close to Oziel several years ago.

“Jerry Oziel was his psychiatrist,” she said. “Then (Oziel) became his friend, then became his best friend, then became his business partner.”

Oziel has testified he never had “dual relationships,” an ethical violation of his position as a psychologist.

LiCausi called Oziel “greedy, malicious (and) deceitful.”

“He manipulates and brainwashes vulnerable people. He has no ethics, no morals,” she said outside the presence of jurors. “He makes David Koresh look like a saint,” she added, referring to the late Branch Davidian cult leader.

LiCausi testified in front of jurors that Oziel was “extremely dishonest.”

Erik Menendez, 22, and Lyle Menendez, 25, are charged with murder in the Aug. 20, 1989, shotgun deaths of their wealthy parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. Prosecutors say the brothers killed out of greed; the defense contends that they were driven to kill their parents after a lifetime of abuse.

Oziel testified earlier that the brothers confessed to the murders during therapy sessions, after which they threatened to kill him.

A neighbor of the Menendez family testified Wednesday that on the night of the murders, he heard “a series of popping sounds . . . coming from up the block.”

But Emanuel Zlotolow, 25, disputed a prosecution theory that the brothers took time to reload their shotguns before finishing the slayings in the Beverly Hills mansion.

Zlotolow said there was only a “short gap” in the series of popping sounds.