Jerome Oziel

Telling jurors that psychologist L. Jerome Oziel had "implanted" memories in her of "things that didn't exist," Oziel's ex-lover testified Tuesday that she can no longer vouch for the truth of what she said previously about Lyle and Erik Menendez. Judalon Smyth swore to authorities three years ago that she had overheard the Menendez brothers say they had shot their mother's eye out of its socket. But she testified Tuesday that she had not really heard them say that.

The onetime paramour of the Menendez brothers' psychologist, L. Jerome Oziel, sued the Beverly Hills therapist Monday, alleging that he had sued her for libel to harass her. Judalon Smyth alleged in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that Oziel's lawsuit--brought in 1992 against her, writer Dominick Dunne and Vanity Fair magazine over an October, 1990, article--lacked proper legal grounds. A judge dismissed Oziel's suit in February.

Kitty Menendez was suicidal over her husband's eight-year extramarital affair, and Jose Menendez was "the ultimate control freak," two witnesses testified Friday at Lyle and Erik Menendez's murder trial. Continuing to round out a personality profile of the parents, the defense on Friday called its 52nd and 53rd witnesses: Kitty Menendez's onetime therapist and Jose Menendez's ex-corporate colleague. North Hollywood psychologist Edwin S.

The judge in the Menendez murder case gave the defense a strategic victory Tuesday, ruling that Lyle Menendez will have to take the witness stand before prosecutors can play a tape recording of his jailhouse phone conversation with a San Fernando Valley woman who wrote a book about him. Prosecutors said they consider the ruling a setback. But, Deputy Dist. Atty. David R. Conn added, "Once Lyle's on the witness stand, we'll be in a different position." Charles A.

The murder case against Lyle and Erik Menendez was postponed again Friday as the California Supreme Court remained silent on a key issue in the case. Beverly Hills Municipal Court Judge Charles Rubin set another hearing for June 21. By then, he said, the high court may have decided whether it will take up the issue of taped conversations between the defendants and their psychologist.

One jury took a three-day weekend and the other went home an hour early as deliberations in the Menendez brothers' murder trial moved slowly Friday. Lyle Menendez's jury, due for a sixth day of deliberations, did not meet because a juror called in sick. Erik Menendez's jury, deliberating for a second day, asked for a number of audiotaped exhibits. Included was a tape the brothers made Dec. 11, 1989, with their Beverly Hills therapist, L.

A judge ruled today that an audiotape of Erik and Lyle Menendez's 911 emergency call, in which they reported finding their parents dead in their Beverly Hills home, will be made public. Santa Monica Superior Court Judge James Albracht ruled that the tape will be released by Thursday. The request was lodged by several media agencies. Albracht also ordered the release of an edited videotape showing authorities seizing material from the office of Beverly Hills psychologist Dr. L.

A psychologist testified Monday he felt he had no choice but to give police tape-recorded notes of sessions with Erik and Lyle Menendez in which the brothers allegedly confessed to killing their wealthy parents in 1989. Armed with a search warrant for his home and office, police demanded the tapes and retrieved them from a bank safe deposit box in March, 1990, Dr. Jerome Oziel said Monday at a hearing in Van Nuys Superior Court.

Rejecting a bid by Lyle and Erik Menendez to block the most direct evidence against them, a state appellate court has ruled that prosecutors may present the audiotape in which the brothers confess to their psychologist that they killed their parents. The 2nd District Court of Appeal turned down a defense claim that the 61-minute tape, recorded on Dec.

The state Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a judge's decision allowing the release of grand jury transcripts in the case of two Beverly Hills brothers accused of killing their multimillionaire parents. The high court affirmed an appeals panel, which found in January that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lance Ito "did not abuse (his) discretion" in allowing portions of the transcript from a hearing involving Erik Menendez, 22, and Lyle Menendez, 25, to be made public.