Opinion ID: 791857
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Therapy Sessions

Text: 30 In 1988, prior to the murders, Erik had been charged with two residential burglaries in the Calabasas area of Los Angeles County. In connection with these charges, both brothers acquired the services of an attorney, Gerald Chaleff. Formal charges arising from these burglaries were filed against Erik in Juvenile Court. Lyle was not charged. 31 For the purpose of pursuing diversion from the court system pursuant to section 654 of the California Welfare and Institutions Code, Chaleff suggested to Erik and Jose that they find a psychologist. Chaleff testified in the instant case that he thought, we were going to need — that counseling or psychiatric therapy or psychological therapy was part of our defense for that case, and that we needed that to show the court that he was attempting to deal with whatever led to the burglaries. The family located Dr. Jerome Oziel for this purpose. In January of 1989, Dr. Oziel prepared a report regarding his therapeutic relationship with and evaluation of Erik, which Chaleff submitted to the Juvenile Court in order successfully to secure Erik's diversion for one year and the eventual dismissal of all charges. 32 Chaleff reentered the lives of the Menendez brothers within days of the killings. On August 21, 1989, Chaleff advised the police that he would be acting on their behalf as legal counsel. However, unbeknownst to Chaleff and on their own initiative, the Menendez brothers resumed meeting on a professional basis with Dr. Oziel. On their own, they met with Dr. Oziel during September, October, and November of 1989. Chaleff testified that he was unaware of Dr. Oziel's continuing involvement in the brothers' lives until December of 1989, about two months after the brothers had resumed their therapy sessions. 33 During their 1989 sessions with Dr. Oziel, neither brother immediately confessed to their roles in their parents' deaths. Eventually, however, the truth got the best of Erik. After several sessions, he called Dr. Oziel on October 30, 1989, and said that he urgently needed to speak with him. Dr. Oziel already suspected that Lyle and Erik had committed the crimes, so when Erik called, Dr. Oziel became concerned for his safety. He had his business associate and mistress, Judalon Smyth, eavesdrop on the conversation. As it turned out, Dr. Oziel was right about both the murders and his own safety. 34 Erik met with Dr. Oziel the next day and confessed to the crimes in detail. Lyle did not yet know that Erik had confessed, and Dr. Oziel worried what Lyle would do when he learned of Erik's confession. To gauge Lyle's reaction, Dr. Oziel called Lyle and asked him to come to the office. When Lyle arrived, he was told of the confession, and he began yelling at Erik in Dr. Oziel's presence: I can't believe you did this! I can't believe you told him! I don't even have a brother now! I could get rid of you for this! Now I hope you know what we are going to do. I hope you realize what we are going to have to do. We've got to kill him and anyone associated to him. 35 Dr. Oziel was now not only concerned for his family's and his own safety, but also was worried about how to proceed. Unsure as to his ethical obligations as a therapist, he consulted several people for advice without revealing what had happened. Ultimately, he decided that the best way to protect himself was to continue to meet with the brothers and convince them that he was an ally. He began taping the sessions for his safety, threatening that the tapes would be released to the police if anything happened to him. 36 In early December of 1989, Erik and Lyle gave Dr. Oziel permission to consult Chaleff. At that juncture, Chaleff still had no knowledge whatsoever that the brothers had been meeting with Dr. Oziel on a professional basis. Chaleff added that he had not discussed with Dr. Oziel anything about participating in a criminal defense aspect of the case, and that he had not discussed Dr. Oziel at all with either Erik or Lyle. 37 Chaleff and Dr. Oziel met on December 8, 1989, and Dr. Oziel told Chaleff that he planned to continue the therapy sessions. At some point after this meeting, Chaleff decided that continuing therapy could be helpful because if there was a trial ... this might be good for the penalty phase, if there ever was one. Chaleff explained the situation as follows: 38 Q: [By Defense Counsel] And was some arrangement made for you to meet at your house the next day? That would have been Saturday, December 9th. 39 A: [Chaleff] Yes. 40 Q: And can you tell me what the results of that meeting were. 41 A: Well, Dr. Oziel came over [to] my house and we had a conversation, and then the result was that we were going to have a meeting with Lyle and Erik and Dr. Oziel and myself as soon as we could. 42 Q: What was the information that Dr. Oziel gave you at that point, that is, on the 9th? 43 A: In total? What — he told me a lot of things. 44 Q: Well, did he tell you that the boys had made a statement to him in reference to the homicides? 45 A: Yes. 46 Q: And did he — was there some discussion between the two of you as to whether therapy should continue at that point, given what he already had learned from them? 47 A: I think he told me that they were going to continue therapy, and I don't know if I agreed or not. But I didn't say no. I mean, I don't have a real strong recollection of that. But I know we discussed it. 48 Q: And at some point in time, either December 8th or some other day, do you have a recollection of deciding as their lawyer that therapy with Dr. Oziel should continue for the purpose of, perhaps, use of the material he was developing in the event that a case ever got filed against him? 49 A: At some point I decided that continuing therapy with Dr. Oziel would be beneficial, could be beneficial, if he ever got arrested. 50 Q: And could you just elaborate on how you thought his therapy sessions were going to be of use to you. 51 A: Yes. First thought that came to my mind — and I guess that's usually because I'm a pessimist about things — if there was a trial, that he could be convicted, and this might be good for the penalty phase, if there ever was one. 52 Q: Okay. And do you recall conveying your decision to the Menendez brothers at some point? 53 A: Yes. 54 Q: And do you remember when that happened? 55 A: That happened on the meeting we all had together on the 11th. 56 Q: And after that meeting on the 11th, were you made aware of the fact, after that date, that Dr. Oziel had tape-recorded that session? 57 A: Yes. 58 Q: And did you ask for a copy of that tape at that point, that is, some time in December? 59 A: I wasn't made aware of it in December. 60 Q: When were you made aware? 61 A: After they were arrested. 62 Q: That there was actually a tape-recording of the session, of that particular session? 63 A: Yes. 64 (emphasis added). 65 During the December 11, 1989 session, Erik and Lyle talked about their relationships with their parents and about the pressures they felt growing up — the fact that they loved their parents but found their father too demanding, and that their mother, who had contemplated suicide, was unhappy. They spoke candidly about the murders, discussing in some detail their thoughts and plans leading up to them. Particularly incriminating were statements about the reasons for and plans to kill Jose and Kitty: 66 [Erik]: Well, we, we were, we were doing almost, in my mom's case, something that, that first of all, there was, there was no way, never could she live without my father. 67 .... 68 [Lyle]: That was something that we had to really, it was a big thing holding us back. Ah, from killing my father was that we thought that we would just kill dad, and eliminate the problem. 69 .... 70 [Lyle]: And ah, so ah, for my, for my mother's sake, I, I thought that ah, we did it, it was, we had to come like I was saying before, we had to make a decision. It was one of the harder ones, and it was a separate issue. (unintel.). He's the reason. My father should be killed. There's no question. What he's doing is, he's impossible to live with for myself and for.... 71 .... 72 [Lyle]: But I still don't think it had anything to do with, killing him had nothing to do with us. It had to do with me realizing a number of things that all culminated, which was, and could have culminated at any point. And it was just a question of Erik and I getting together, and somebody bringing it up, and us realizing the value in it. 73 .... 74 [Lyle]: There was no way I was gonna make a decision to kill my mother without Erik's consent. I was going, I didn't even wanna influence him in that issue. I just let him sleep on it for a couple days. Cause ah, I did ... I, I, I'm in a very ah, good position to influence Erik on a lot of things. Because he knows that I care, and a whole number of issues. That I can talk eloquently or whatever. And ah, but when it came to that issue, I wanted nothing to do with it. It had to be his own personal issue. If he felt the same way I did about killing mom. 75 This tape came to the attention of the police after Dr. Oziel's relationship with Judalon Smyth ended. At that point, Smyth approached Beverly Hills police and told them what she knew about the murders. On March 8, 1989, a warrant was served at Dr. Oziel's home, and the taped sessions were recovered. This tape provided the prosecution with additional evidence that the murders had been committed in a deliberate, premeditated fashion.