Lyle and Erik Menendez The brothers remain serving life sentences for the brutal murders of their parents, who were shot and killed by the brothers, then 21 and 18, in their Beverly Hills mansion on August 20, 1989.
Smith had an affair with the Menendez brothers’ therapist
Smith met the married Oziel in June 1989 while running his tape duplication business and offered to sell tapes of him speaking about psychology. The two began an affair, and Judalon moved in with Jerome and his wife. laurelseveral months into their relationship. Los Angeles TimesLaurel claimed that Jerome had been honest with her about the affair, but said she felt like they were “being held hostage by this woman in our own home.”
Eric confessed to a psychiatrist, Dr. Oziel, who relayed it to Smith. However, Smith did not go to the police and reveal her knowledge of the confession until Oziel ended her affair with Smith several months later. When she called police, Eric revealed that he had admitted to the murders during therapy sessions and that he had a tape recording of the confession. The brothers were arrested in March 1990, beginning a years-long legal battle over the admissibility of Oziel’s recording as evidence.
“I never thought of myself as a believer in evil, but hearing those boys talk made me think that,” Smith told an investigative reporter. Dominic Dunne In 1990.
Despite challenges over doctor-patient confidentiality, Oziel’s testimony was crucial in the trial, as he claimed the brothers had threatened his life and his testimony was admitted into evidence.
Smith testified on behalf of the defense.
Smith testified that Jerome convinced the Menendez brothers to make the recordings because “he needed to get them to say incriminating things on tape so he could have a recording to defend himself. He also claimed that Jerome told Eric and Lyle that the recordings would prove his remorse for killing their parents.”
Smith initially claimed that Oziel had told him to eavesdrop on the brothers while they discussed killing their parents, so he was listening from behind the office door. However, during the trial, Smith testified that he never directly heard the brothers admit to the murders. Smith argued that Oziel had brainwashed him into believing that he had heard those conversations.
Smith later blamed Oziel.
Smith broke his 25-year silence in 2015.