Menendez Juror Says Homophobia, Sexism Affected First Trial
A female juror from the Menendez brothers' first trial is speaking out -- about how sexism and homophobia impacted that outcome, and why she thinks they deserve to walk free now.
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00:00So, you voted for voluntary manslaughter, and there was a big split.
00:08And it seemed like the split was between men and women.
00:11Men wanting to find them guilty of murder, some of the women voluntary manslaughter.
00:17I'm really interested in something that you wrote about, which is that there was a lot
00:22of sexism and homophobia in the jury deliberation room.
00:26Can you describe that?
00:27I think the men were actually, in addition to not buying the brother's story that they
00:36had been molested by their father, well, first I'd like to point out that even if you took
00:41sex out of the equation, there were plenty of other forms of abuse.
00:45There was neglect, there was physical abuse.
00:49In addition to sexual, there was emotional abuse, and there was mental abuse.
00:53And there were more than 50 witnesses testifying to that on their behalf in the trial, in addition
01:01to expert witnesses.
01:05But the men didn't buy it.
01:07And I also think that they were feeling the public pressure of not being wimps.
01:15They were being macho about it, and not wanting to be seen as taking in a gullible.
01:21And that's what the press painted the women as.
01:25Is it that they didn't believe them, or that they discounted it?
01:31Because I'm just really curious about the homophobia that you talk about.
01:35Well, that ended up being the number one issue that we discussed in the trial.
01:41In closing arguments, Lester Kuriyama, the prosecutor, threw out a theory that the whole
01:46problem in the family was that Eric was gay, and that that was how he knew how to describe
01:51homosexual acts.
01:53And a prosecutor's closing arguments is not considered evidence.
01:58There was no evidence of that.
02:00But the men grabbed a hold of that and would not let go.
02:04And we did everything we could to get them.
02:08They agreed that, you know, if a boy was abused, that didn't necessarily make him gay.
02:16And even if he was gay, that he could be abused.
02:18But they didn't believe their story.
02:20And they didn't vote in their favor.
02:23When this news came out about their father allegedly molesting a member of Menudo, what
02:32was your reaction to that news, and how it could impact their future in prison?
02:40I think that it's too bad if there were other victims of Jose Menendez.
02:46But I also think that the second trial, which did not let that sort of evidence in, was
02:53a travesty of justice.
02:55And that even if there was no new evidence whatsoever, I think that the second trial
03:02verdict should be overturned, and that they should be let out with time served, which
03:06is nearly 35 years.
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