Why the Menendez Brothers' Abuse Defense NEVER Washed in Court
Please feel free to skip my super long and incoherent rant ✌🏻
I was just in a really bad mood anyway and then I watched this and these two got on my damn nerves even more, so I was being a Petty Betty and typed out everything they said that annoyed me lol
I’m not really making any points or anything, I just don’t know anyone IRL that follows this case, so I'm using these subs to vent because Reddit is free and therapy is not 😄
The opening with Chris Cuomo saying "Daddy was a bad man, Daddy did bad things to us and Mommy knew and Mommy was enabling him and it was never gonna stop and he had just said that he was about to hurt one of the brother's again and the other brother said "not this time, not anymore"....and so they killed them"
The way he said this really irritated me. The repeated use of Daddy and Mommy in his semi mocking tone just comes across as him trivialising their testimonies right off the bat.
He makes it sound like their testimonies was "Daddy" was a big ol' meanie and "Mommy" was cold, so we just had to kill them.
No, they recounted in detail a lifetime of the physical, emotional and sexual abuse they endured at the hands of both of their parents which led to a heightened state of paranoia, fear, confusion and hypervigilance that ultimately ended in tragedy. They didn't excuse what they did, they tried to explain how the twisted family dynamics they had been born into culminated into a night that they deeply regretted.
Dusty Cohen just seemed very salty that Roy Rosello wouldn't give her an interview. There could be many reasons why Roy Rosello didn't want to waste his time speaking to this woman and after watching her attitude in this, I think he made the right choice.
Maybe he had built up a rapport with Rob Rand and felt the documentary allowed him to talk about it in safe way with people he trusted, maybe speaking to the press would have legal implications as his testimony formed part of the Habeas Corpus, maybe doing interviews would have negatively impacted Erik and Lyle as the media scrutiny was so intense at the time....or maybe, he just simply didn't fucking want to.
She is not entitled to his story and he does not owe her an interview nor an explanation.
She had the audacity to confidently say that Erik and Lyle were fighting for their lives and Roy Rosello was nowhere to be found. Just because he didn't give her the interview she clearly tried hard to get, doesn't mean that he didn't help them and if she bothered to look into the case before running her misinformed mouth she would know this.
He did help Erik and Lyle, he spoke about his abuse in a setting that he was comfortable in, making it public without subjecting himself to the clutches of the media and he gave his testimony as part of the Habeas Corpus and was willing to give his testimony in Court if needed.
Chris Cuomo thinks the most likely one of his theories on why Roy Rosello hasn't given any more interviews is because the family members said if he can't back it up then they would sue him.
Now why would they do that Chris?
All of their living relatives support their release and Roy’s testimony corroborates that their father was a sexual predator. So it would make absolutely no sense for their family to want to silence him. Do they not do any research before these shows?
He then goes on to say that family members were quiet at the time but then came out during the resentencing to say they knew about the abuse. Their Aunts Terri, Marta and Joan and Cousins Alan, Andy and Diane all testified at the trials and Diane testified at the resentencing as well. Why is he trying to make it sound like the family members have only just now spoke about what they saw or heard and what Erik and Lyle disclosed to them, when they testified to this at the trials over 30 years ago?
When she said they definitely put on the black suits, does she mean to the funeral? If so, then what else was she expecting them to where to a funeral?
Chris Cuomo says that Lyle has convinced himself that they had to kill their parents because Jose was about to molest Erik again and he referenced the interview Chris did with Lyle in 2017. He shows a little clip of the interview making it seem that this was going to back up what he just said, but the clip he shows is of Lyle answering Chris' question about where was his head in relation to what was happening between Erik and Jose which is why Lyle is talking about how he felt that Erik had given up.
Jose ordering Erik to his room, their mother not saying anything and aligning herself with Jose and Lyle saying no you're not going to touch my brother again or words to that effect happened in the lead up to and contributed to the growing tension and fear that had been building over the previous few days but it wasn't the catalyst for them going into the den.
Chris makes it sound like Lyle has convinced himself that he was actively stopping the rape of his brother by his father when they shot their parents, but Lyle didn't say that, he said when his parents went into the den and closed the doors after saying what he felt was ominous things such as Lyle had ruined the family, he went into panic mode and in that moment believed they were going to kill him and Erik.
They didn't kill their parents because Lyle thought Erik was imminently going to be raped by Jose, they killed their parents because they believed in that moment that their parents were imminently going to kill them.
I could be wrong about this, if so, feel free to tell me.
Dusty Cohen in this interview is insufferable, to actually sit there and say that she's tired of the excuse that victims of sexual abuse are scared to come forward because they might get sued was disgusting, especially to say it about the Epstein victims, who she knows damn well were threatened with being sued to keep them silent by people with far more money and power than they had.
So between these two, they shame Roy Rosello for not giving an interview to talk about his sexual abuse, wrongly say that he didn't help Erik and Lyle, theorised that Roy Rosello didn't give interviews because Erik and Lyle's family members might sue him, said that the family members came forward during resentencing when family members actually also testified over 30 years ago, misled the audience as to what Lyle answered in response as to why they killed their parents, completely ignored the abuse their mother inflicted (this happens all the time) and shamed sexual abuse victims for being scared of coming forward because they may get sued.
They managed to be this ignorant and irritating in just under 20 minutes.
Dusty and Chris, Roy Rosello doesn't owe you an interview, however, you do owe your audience the consideration of doing some research into the topics you discuss on your show, if only so you don't shame another sexual abuse victim in future, like you have done here with Roy and the Epstein victims.
Personally, I think Roy did well to ignore her requests for an interview, instead she should try to book Dr Anne Burgess who can explain to Chris why even a “grown ass man” can feel trapped after a lifetime of grooming and mental breakdown from his abuser and Dusty can learn that sexual abuse victims can struggle all of their lives to come forward for fear of societal shame, not being believed and yes, even of being sued.
She might find that her newfound understanding of the lasting effects that sexual abuse has on victims might actually land her some more interviews in future.
Until then, I hope Roy continues to ignore her calls.