Page 15 - Robert Rand News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> reporter: erik, on the other hand, seemed broken. >> he very rarely made eye contact. he was biting his fingernails. so i was thinking in my head, "boy, i sure hope i get to work with the older brother and not the younger brother. because this is gonna be a piece of cake with the older brother. >> how wrong he was. after a few sessions with lyle, dr. vicary hit a wall. and moved on to erik, who, month after month, seemed to stick to a kind of script about his wonderful father, his loving family. >> and the minute something would leak out about maybe things weren't so wonderful in the family...

Decision turned a local l.a. story into an international sensation. how big was it? the menendez trial was the case that put an entire network, court tv, on the broadcast landscape. >> reporter: prosecutor pam bozanich knew all of america was watching her every move. >> how did you feel as you prepared to make your opening statement? >> as i walked down the hallway, all the cameras were there. and, you know, i just threw up. 'cause i thought, "oh, god. you know, this is really stressful." so -- >> reporter: what's more, prosecutor bozanich was going up against two fierce opponents. leslie abra...

So what was it then? >> reporter: according to leslie abramson there was only one relevant question to consider in the menendez murders. >> why did these killings occur? >> reporter: a question the brothers believed they could answer best. no one had ever seen televised testimony like this before. >> say your full name and spell your last name.| >> joseph lyle menendez. >> reporter: the brothers testified in graphic, emotional terms about what they said were the darkest secrets of their family. >> between the ages of six and eight, did your father have sexual contact with you? >> yes. we would...

>> as he would find, getting to the brothers was not so easy. but then, they'd just lost their parents. >> lyle and erik menendez were the grieving sons. >> alan abrahamson is a journalism professor at usc. back in 1989, he was a reporter for the la times. >> nobody quite knew who had -- who had killed the parents. professor at usc. back in 1989, he was a reporter for the la times. >> nobody quite knew who had -- who had killed the parents. was it because of jose's position in business? had he been taken out by the mob? >> after all, both jose and kitty had been shot in the knees. a mafia sign...

Distasteful that when the state doesn't succeed in convicting somebody under one set of rules, they sort of change the rules dramatically. >> reporter: grounds to vacate their convictions? and what do the brothers have to say all these years later? we'll ask lyle menendez, next. coming up -- >> the outside world saw what they thought was evidence of premeditation. >> i'd have to say, keith, that it's just not really entirely accurate. >> when "dateline" continues. >> when "dateline" continues his grilling game? on point. and his a1c? ron is on it. with the once-daily pill, jardiance. jardian...