Word: lyle
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...Lyle Menendez:...A complicated, brilliant, arrogant boy, he has been seriously damaged by his impossible-to-please, unbearably domineering father...Cold, calculating, with a bitter, biting humor, Lyle both loathes and admires his father and feels nothing but contempt for his beaten-down mother...
Erik Menendez:...((A)) softer, warmer human being ((than Lyle)), still capable of feeling pity and love for his mother, as well as being able to share a few lighthearted moments with his father, who makes his life generally miserable...
There are problematic points in Lyle's story, though. He testified that the brothers were convinced Jose and Kitty would kill them on a shark-fishing trip the day before the final explosion. They went anyway, and nothing happened, but, said Lyle, the two boys came back convinced more than ever that they were in mortal danger. More important, while Lyle painted a menacing portrait of his father, he was less successful explaining why the brothers thought Kitty would have joined her husband in killing her sons. Some outside legal experts think the prosecution may successfully contend that the brothers...
Much may depend on Erik's story this week and succeeding testimony by defense experts who will testify on the psychological effect of long-continued sexual and emotional abuse. But the atmosphere of the trial has changed sharply. At first, the common belief was that Lyle and Erik would be convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced either to death or to life without parole. But hardly anyone seems to expect that now; Lyle has been too effective in painting them as victims. Even prosecutor Bozanich has told reporters, "I think the disturbed family is part of the motivation...
...other hand, Lyle has not exactly shown the brothers to be lovable enough to deserve outright acquittal. Witness part of his testimony about killing Kitty: "I could see somebody moving where my mother should be. So I reloaded. I ran around and shot my mom. I shot her close." The betting now is that the two will be convicted of a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter or second-degree murder, with acquittal an outside chance. But nobody ever knows what a jury, let alone two juries, will do when the door closes...