Journalist Ana Garcia reveals the different outcome the Menendez brothers trial would have today
Ana Garcia is laying down the law when it comes to a fair shot at justice.What led up to the events on the night of Aug.20, 1989, when Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez, has long fascinated the public.
Now, the Emmy award-winning journalist and host of the new television series “True Crime News” is revealing why she thinks the case would have played out differently if it had been tried today.“I always say that time is the most interesting lens there is through which we can revisit something.” Garcia exclusively explained to The Post at Warner Brother’s Fall TV Season Celebration on Thursday. “Think about it: the first case where they did introduce the defense that they had been abused by their father, that jury was a hung jury. D.A.tries it again, this time, any testimony and the defense about the sexual abuse was severely limited, if even truly permitted.”Erik and Lyle have long claimed that their father sexually abused them, which they say led up to shooting their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion.
The brothers were convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 at just 21 and 18 years old.“It was a totally different trial. They were two radically different versions of what was going on in that house,” continued Garcia.“And so they get convicted, I get it.
They acted not just about the murders because they have admitted they killed their parents.I think that’s where the evolution has happened.
They killed their parents.There’s no question about it.
Was it horrific? Absolutely. I once had a police captain say to me, if every young person who was abused by their parents killed their parents, we’d have a lot of dead parents. I can understand the fear.”Garcia noted that in 1989, “there was not a lot of compassion for them.They were just seen as bratty, wealthy Beverly Hills kids.”“But they clearly suffered.
So I think had that trial occurred now, with the way we are more se...