Hazel Thornton, who served on the jury in the 1993 trial of Eric and Lyle Menendez for the murders of their parents, said the jury was unmoved by the brothers' claims that their father sexually abused them.
“It was a classic battle of the sexes,” said Juror No. 9 Hazel Thornton. news nation. “The men didn't believe Jose.” [Menendez] He was abusing his sons. The men never backed down or accepted the fact that they might have been abused. ”
In August 1989, when Eric and Lyle were 21 and 20 years old, respectively, they shot their father six times and their mother 10 times in the study of their Beverly Hills mansion.
Police initially suspected the killing was a mob effort. The brothers lived in luxury in the months following the murder, leading investigators to suspect that they killed their parents for money. However, there was not enough evidence to arrest the brothers until Judalon Smith, the mistress of Eric's therapist, Jerome Oziel, told police about Eric and Lyle's involvement.
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Pictured is Eric Menendez (C) and his brother Lyle (L) on August 12, 1991 in Beverly Hills. They are accused of murdering parents Jose and Mary Louise Menendez of Beverly Hills, California. (Mike Nelson/AFP via Getty Images)
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Los Angeles prosecutor considering new evidence The city's district attorney announced earlier this month that the city's district attorney will decide whether the brothers should serve life sentences for killing their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion more than 35 years ago.
The brothers' lawyers argue that they should have been convicted of manslaughter rather than murder because of their father's alleged abuse. IIn this case, they would have already been released from prison. Thornton wrote on his website that he voted for voluntary manslaughter.
Menendez brothers found guilty of murdering their parents, fight for freedom while protected by relatives
Trial of the Menendez Brothers in Los Angeles – Lyle Menendez and attorney Jill Lansing. Los Angeles, March 9, 1994. (Ted Soki/Sigma)
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Their case is the subject of a new Netflix scripted series, “Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez,” and another documentary on Oct. 7.
Thornton told NewsNation that she has no plans to watch the Netflix series. The brothers' families called the series a “horrific, gross, anachronistic, episodic nightmare full of untruths and outright lies, as well as a lack of modern content.” A revelation of innocence,” he said in a statement regarding X.
“Why would I want to see a story that doesn't reflect what I know to be true?” Thornton said.
For seven months, Thornton served on a Los Angeles jury in the first of the brothers' two trials.
Menendez brothers found guilty of murdering their parents, fight for freedom while protected by relatives
An undated photo of the Menendez family is shown on screen during a panel discussion at CrimeCon 2024 on Sunday, June 2, in Nashville, Tennessee. Brothers Lyle and Eric were convicted of shooting their parents to death in 1989. (Michael Lewis/Fox News Digital)
Kim Kardashian calls for release of Menendez brothers, citing sexual abuse claims: 'They're not monsters'
“The women who voted for voluntary manslaughter were ridiculed and thought to be indecisive, emotional, obsessed with their brothers, and too stupid to understand jury instructions,” Thornton wrote in her story.
After a month of deliberations and two hung juries, then-Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti announced he would retry the brothers.
At the end of the second trial in 1996, both brothers were found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of ambush and conspiracy to commit murder. Both were sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Eric Menendez (left) and his brother Lyle stand in front of their home in Beverly Hills. They are the prime suspects in the murder of their parents. (Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Eric and Lyle Menendez have unsuccessfully appealed their convictions multiple times over the years, but their latest petition for release points to two new pieces of evidence. .
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The first is a letter from Eric Menendez to his cousin Andy Cano, mailed eight months before Kitty and Jose Menendez were murdered. According to the brothers' lawyer, Cano's mother discovered the letter nine years ago. Cano testified at one of his brothers' trials that Eric told him about the sexual abuse allegations, but Cano died in 2003.
The second is a sworn statement from Roy Rosselló, a former member of the band Menudo, alleging that Jose Menendez sexually abused him. Jose, who was the boy's band manager, is suspected of drugging and sexually assaulting the boy during a visit to his home when he was 14 years old, the statement said.
