Father’s Plans to Disinherit Menendez Brothers Described

Jose Menendez confided shortly before his death that he had told his sons he planned to write them out of his will, the executor of the slain entertainment executive’s estate testified Wednesday.

Carlos Baralt was called as a defense witness in the murder trial of Lyle and Erik Menendez to shed light on the much-disputed issue of a will. The brothers maintain that they knew they were out of the will and that they could not gain financially by killing their parents.

The prosecution charges that the brothers shot Jose and Kitty Menendez to death on Aug. 20, 1989, for their inheritance. The defense says they acted in self-defense out of fears that their parents would kill them after years of sexual and psychological abuse.

Baralt said that in June or July, 1989, Jose Menendez, who was his brother-in-law, told him of his plans for the will.

“He wanted to leave Erik and Lyle off the will,” Baralt said. “I did express some concern about how he would tell them. . . . He said he already had.”

On cross-examination, Baralt said he understood that Jose Menendez had not yet amended the will when he and his wife were killed.

In the days after their deaths, he said, at least four family members converged on a computer at the Menendez mansion to try to break the code that might show them a new will, but they found none.

As the defense neared its conclusion, Baralt also testified that:

* In the fall of 1990, six months after they were arrested, Erik Menendez, 22, and Lyle Menendez, 25, admitted killing their parents and told him they had been sexually molested by their father. On cross-examination, Baralt said he never noticed any signs of sexual abuse in the family.

* Two days after the killings, psychologist L. Jerome Oziel visited the hotel where the family was staying and urged them to consult a probate lawyer he recommended. Baralt said he visited the lawyer with Oziel but didn’t hire him. Oziel, who treated the brothers, later became a star witness against them. The defense has sought to show he tried to blackmail them.

* Baralt said he never saw Jose or Kitty Menendez hug or touch their sons, but assumed that they loved them because of the time they devoted to the brothers’ tennis careers. However, in the last days of her life, Kitty Menendez spoke negatively of Lyle, he said. “She said, ‘I can’t believe it. I don’t like my own son,’ ” he said.

Under cross-examination by Deputy Dist. Atty. Pamela Bozanich, Baralt offered the trial’s strongest testimonial to Jose Menendez, his friend since they were teen-agers in Cuba.

“He was a jovial individual, very charming, extremely talented, very intelligent, a great guy to be with, a great guy to be on his side of the team,” he said. “You didn’t want to be on the other team from Jose.”