Erik Menendez Feared Life Like ‘Elephant Man,’ Psychiatrist Says : Trial: Defense witness testifies that murder suspect was afraid he would be outcast if father’s abuse was revealed.

Erik Menendez did not want to reveal that he had been molested by his father because he thought he would be considered a homosexual and shunned forever “like the ‘elephant man,’ ” his jailhouse psychiatrist said Thursday as testimony in the Menendez brothers’ murder trial neared its end.

Dr. William Vicary told jurors that Erik Menendez was ashamed of the abuse and “gave me several reasons for not wanting to talk about it, no matter what, even if it meant spending the rest of his life in prison.”

Vicary, the first mental health expert hired by the defense, testified Wednesday that Erik Menendez confided the molestation to him in August, 1990, about a year after the shotgun slayings of Jose and Kitty Menendez.

Vicary said Erik Menendez was slow in letting “this dirt out” because he feared that it “would ruin whatever was left of the family name,” and ruin his own life as well.

“Everybody in the whole world would think he was a homosexual, and his girlfriend would leave him, and for the rest of his life he would be like the ‘elephant man,’ ” Vicary said as Erik Menendez slumped his shoulders and let out a sigh.

Erik Menendez, 23, and Lyle Menendez, 25, are charged with first-degree murder in the Aug. 20, 1989, slayings of their parents. After 20 weeks of trial, testimony should end today, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Stanley M. Weisberg told jurors.

The brothers testified that they killed their parents in self-defense after years of abuse. Prosecutors contend that the slayings were driven by hatred and greed, and that the brothers’ tearful tales of abuse are fictitious.

Vicary was called by the defense to rebut that contention.

The psychiatrist said Erik Menendez was a basket case after his arrest and underwent months of therapy and antidepressant medication before disclosing the abuse in their jailhouse meetings. Vicary said he did not believe that Erik Menendez was faking.

Vicary also testified Thursday that when treatment began, Erik Menendez was awash in suppressed anger. “He was such a pathetic, wimpy, hopeless mess,” Vicary said. “He wasn’t able to express anger toward anyone.”

On cross-examination, Deputy Dist. Atty. Pamela Bozanich did not press the issue of the anger, which conceivably could fit in with the prosecution theory that hatred drove the killings.

Instead, as prosecutors have done with each defense expert, she asked Vicary how much he had earned from his work on the case. The answer was $24,000--for 88 one-hour sessions with Erik Menendez and many hours spent reading transcripts of the trial.

Vicary said he initially made $200 per hour when paid privately by the defense. When the Menendez estate ran out of money, the defense asked a judge to appoint him to the case at $100 per hour in taxpayer funds, which is what he is earning, he said.

Vicary rejected the prosector’s suggestion that Erik Menendez might have been so upset in jail because he faced murder charges that could get him the death penalty. The psychiatrist said Erik Menendez seemed relieved to be behind bars.

“I was quite shocked to find he liked it in jail,” Vicary said. “He found for the first time in his life there was no pressure on him. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t afraid someone was going to beat him up or rape him. He didn’t have to be perfect or No. 1.”