Erik Menendez Says He Is Tired of Prison, Wants to Go Home

As cross-examination began Thursday at his murder retrial in Van Nuys, 25-year-old Erik Menendez blurted, “I don’t want to be here,” adding moments later, “I want to go home.”

Menendez has been in jail for six years--enough time, Deputy Dist. Atty. David P. Conn suggested in his biting questions--to concoct a story about a warped upbringing and his fear of a father Menendez says molested him from ages 6 to 18.

But the younger of the two Menendez brothers maintained his story was true, even if it didn’t come to light until after his March 1990 arrest in the murder of his parents. “I needed to get that off my chest,” said Menendez, who did not mention that he faces the death penalty. “Getting arrested in some ways was a relief.”

He admitted responsibility for the shotgun slayings of Jose and Kitty Menendez and said he had lied repeatedly to police, relatives and others during the six months between the slayings and his arrest.

Prosecutors allege that the brothers murdered their parents to get their hands on the Menendez millions. Defense attorneys, seeking lesser manslaughter convictions, say the brothers killed in a blind panic because of their belief that their parents would kill them to hush up the family’s dark secret.

On the stand, Erik Menendez offered his own spin on the difference between murder and manslaughter: “I don’t want to be in prison anymore. It’s a bad place. . . . A murder conviction will put me in jail for the rest of my life, and I don’t want that. A manslaughter conviction is the only way I can go home.”