Menendez Aunt Berates Prosecution for Seeking Brothers’ Death

An aunt of Lyle and Erik Menendez testified Thursday that the family was devastated when Jose and Kitty Menendez were shot to death in 1989, but said “it was worse” last week when jurors convicted the couple’s sons of their murders.

“It’s our agony. It’s our pain. Do you know what this daily rehash does to us? It’s destroying us. I’m on the verge of a breakdown,” Teresita Baralt, the oldest sister of Jose Menendez, told jurors as she urged them not to sentence the brothers to death.

In testimony that sometimes grew heated and contentious, Baralt stood her ground under a pointed cross-examination by Deputy Dist. Atty. David P. Conn during the second day of the trial’s penalty phase. The jury has two choices: execution or life in prison.

Baralt condemned the prosecutor for wanting to have the brothers executed. “Do you see any family members sitting behind you?” she asked Conn, pointing out the bitterest irony of a case in which the victims and the convicted murderers come from the same, allegedly dysfunctional family.

Unlike penalty phase testimony in most trials, the prosecution had no outpouring of grief to present, no passionate demands for retribution, no compelling victim impact statements from the relatives of the dead.

The Menendez family has rallied behind the killers and their defense attorneys, focusing on how to keep Lyle and Erik, ages 28 and 25, off death row. Like many other Menendez relatives, Baralt has refused to cooperate with police and prosecutors for more than six years. Conn questioned her sharply about her refusal, and fireworks erupted in the courtroom:

“Mr. Conn,” Baralt bristled at one point, “you want to kill my nephews. This is the rest of my family. . . . The family members do not want anymore bloodshed. This is my family, not yours. I’m the one that’s hurting, not you.”

Later, she turned on the prosecutor again: “We don’t want these boys dead. I’m not going to help you put them there.”

And later yet: “You had an agenda and one agenda only, and that was to convict and kill these boys. I want to save these two boys. You want them dead. You’re getting what you wanted. You want me to sit back and say it’s OK?”

Baralt testified that she dearly loved her brother and sister-in-law, even if she disagreed with their child-rearing practices. She said the couple psychologically abused the boys, apparently in a misguided attempt to make them tougher.

Jose, she said, was “ruthless,” with his boys, while Kitty was “a little more insulting.” Neither had any tolerance for tears or losers, according to Baralt.

She acknowledged that she never saw her brother or sister-in-law strike their sons, and insisted that the parents demonstrated their love through their dedication to the brothers’ sports. She described Jose as “obsessed,” adding, “that was his way of loving. I wish he had loved them a little less. That’s the tragedy of this situation. Why do you think we’re still here?”

Baralt was followed by a couple of tennis coaches, who described Jose as a harsh, meddlesome tennis parent who dominated his sons’ practice sessions. One coach, Charles Wadlington, said Jose pushed his sons and expected them to win. He quoted Jose Menendez as saying, “Finishing second is like kissing your sister.”