April 19, 2023, 7:25 PM
April 19, 2023, 7:25 PM
The complaint of alleged sexual abuse made by a former member of the youth musical band Menudo has once again put the spotlight on one of the most publicized murder cases in the history of the United States.
Roy Rosselló made this complaint in the documentary Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayedas seen in a preview of it published by NBC.
Rosselló, who joined the band in the 1980s, accuses record executive José Menéndez of sexually abusing him.
This revelation could shed new light on a decades-old case that had the United States on edge: the brutal 1989 murder of Menéndez and his wife by their own children.
We analyze how this crime was, the controversial process that followed it and the unknowns that have opened up about it again.
the murder
On March 20, 1989, Cuban-American José Menéndez, a top executive in the entertainment industry, and his wife Kitty were shot to death in his mansion from the affluent Californian city of Beverly Hills.
His two sons, Erik and Lyle (then 18 and 21), called the police the next day.
They claimed that they had found their parents dead when they got home.
At first the police followed the trail, as possible perpetrators of the double murder, of mafia groups and other people close to the Menéndez.
However, the couple’s two children soon entered the radar of the authorities, among other reasons for the luxurious life they began to lead after the death of their parents, with purchases of apartments, sports cars and luxury watches.
Erik Menéndez made a mistake that would ultimately be decisive in the case: he confessed to his psychologistDr. Jerome Oziel, how he and his brother murdered their parents.
The judgments
The testimony of the younger of the two brothers was leaked and reached the authorities, which made them accused.
Both went arrested in 1990 and charged with murderin what was the beginning of a long series of legal proceedings.
The trial, which began in 1993, was one of the first to be broadcast on television, capturing the attention of tens of millions of Americans.
Erik and Lyle admitted to the jury that they had murdered their parents, but claimed that they had done it “in self-defense” for the alleged abuses psicologicalphysical and sexual to which their father subjected them.
The brothers recounted chilling details about the alleged beatings and rapes of José Menéndez, and also alleged that he had threatened them with death so that they would not tell what was happening.
For its part, the prosecution based its accusation on the fact that the brothers committed the murder in a cold and premeditated manner. to inherit their parents’ estateestimated at US$14 million.
Some jurors believed the brothers, while others adhered to the prosecutors’ approach.
Failing to reach an agreement on the verdict (involuntary manslaughter or murder) the first trial was declared null.
In a second trial, the circumstances changed completely: it was held without cameras and the judge restricted the testimonies and evidence used by the defense on the allegedly abusive dynamics imposed by José Menéndez in the upbringing of his children.
Furthermore, the defense was not able to present witnesses to corroborate the physical and sexual abuse that the young people attributed to their father, so the testimonies of both were practically the only thing their defense could cling to.
At this point, the judge ruled out manslaughter based on the alleged abuse, forcing the jury to decide between only two options: convict the defendants of murder or find them not guilty and release them.
Sentence
On April 18, 1996, the brothers Lyle and Erik Menéndez They were convicted of murder and received life in prison. No possibility of parole.
27 years after that verdict, the confession of one of the members of Menudo about the alleged sexual abuse of José Menéndez has led some to question whether the trial lacked elements to take into account before imprisoning the two brothers for life. .
In fact, during the trial the defense attorney for the brothers stated that she knew the story of a former member of Menudo, but that she believed it was not appropriate to call him to testify to protect his career, according to the New York newspaper at the time. Daily News.
Erik and Lyle were held in separate prisons for 22 years and communicated by letter until they met again in 2018 at the RJ Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego where, according to witnesses, they staged an emotional reunion.
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