BEVERLY HILLS : Brothers Told of Abuse in 1990, Uncle Testifies
Six months after their arrests, the Menendez brothers confessed to killing their parents and disclosed they had been molested, their uncle testified Wednesday.
With the defense seeking to show that the claims of abuse were not made up right before trial, uncle Carlos Baralt said his nephews made the revelations in jail in the fall of 1990.
At what Baralt called a “very emotional” meeting, with Erik Menendez crying and Lyle Menendez’s voice breaking, the brothers said they killed their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, on Aug. 20, 1989, in the TV room of the family’s Beverly Hills mansion, he said.
But under cross-examination, Baralt said the brothers did not tell him that they had killed in self-defense, as they now claim. And he testified that Jose Menendez was a “great guy,” giving a generally glowing portrait of a man the defense has portrayed as a tyrant.
“They seemed like a normal family unit,” he said of the Menendez clan.
Erik, 22, and Lyle Menendez, 25, are charged with first-degree murder. The defense hopes to rest its case by the end of the week.
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