Are the Menendez brothers guilty of cold-blooded murder, or were they victims pushed to a breaking point? In this episode, attorney and newsman Jesse Weber dives into the shocking 1989 case with Lily and Vanessa, exploring the evidence, trial, and emotional testimonies that gripped the nation. Click ‘Subscribe’ at the top of the Infamous show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you get your podcasts. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices A Campside Media & Sony Music Entertainment production. To connect with Infamous's creative team, plus access behind the scenes content, join the community at Campsidemedia.com/join Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What happened on the night of the Menendez murders?
Right. And I believe the hairpiece was purchased, which was an expensive hairpiece. I think it was like twelve hundred dollars, fifteen hundred dollars. But it was an expensive hairpiece because Jose wanted his sons to enter into politics. The clean cut boys come from a good family. This would be more presentable.
And as you hear more of these stories, it wasn't the anger just directed at their father was also directed against their mother. And The problem, again, legally speaking, and I think what really was a problem for the brothers is, you know, at one point in their second trial that they were able to argue heat of passion. They were in the moment they killed their father.
What they couldn't argue is heat of passion with respect to their mother. You will hear a lot of legal analysts say there was a kiddie problem. In these killings, they might have been justified, maybe under the law to kill their father, but they weren't quite justified to kill their mother.
And that is something I think we should always just keep in mind that they were convicted of double murder, not just to their father, but their mother. And despite deficits in her being a mother and there's been abuse allegations as well, there is a difference there. And I want to be clear about that.
Yeah, no, I think that's definitely true. And we'll talk a little bit more about Kitty. But the fact remains that she also was subject to this man, right? To Jose. I don't think that anybody thinks he treated the people in his family well, right? He wanted to become a senator, as you say, in Florida. Saw his sons as his successors. He wanted to be the Kennedys, right? The brothers call in to 911.
And the cops arrive and they are so sure that these kids haven't done it that they don't do anything to try to look at gunpowder on their hands. Right. What happened when the cops showed up?
So when they showed up, the brothers are hysterical. And initially their first thought. tale, if you will, was that this could have been gang related, that Jose was involved with some shady characters. And you know what? That's not a far stretch.
When you look at that crime scene and you look at how they were gunned down with shotguns, you wonder, was this an assassination because of Jose's businesses? It's not outside the realm of possibility. And you have these two brothers who plan this very well. And we're very consistent in how they felt about things. But you can't blame law enforcement because it was a very odd scene.
And also, look, you're dealing with something from the late 80s, early 90s. We don't have the same kind of technology that we have today. And trying to see clues in a crime scene like that is very different than it is today. A wealthy neighborhood like that, seeing these two people gunned down in that manner, it didn't make sense that the brothers would do that.
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