In some interviews since the trials, first-trial prosecutor Pamela Bozanich claimed that she knew all along that it would be a sexual abuse defense or specifically, that she knew it would be a fabricated defense. If that were true, why weren't she and her co-counsel better prepared? Why didn't they call her own expert witness?
Here is evidence (from LA Times reporters Ron Soble and John Johnson, who later wrote a book about the case in 1994 entitled Blood Brothers) that proves otherwise.
Page 202: [Detective Leslie] Zoeller met with Pam Ferrero (later Bozanich), a slight deputy district attorney with an iron will and a bulldog disposition that she did under the stylish, buttoned-up suits she wore to court. Passionate about mushroom burgers and getting bad guys, she was a top prosecutor in the organized crime unit of the D.A.'s Office. She liked to joke that she was like a B-grade movie actress, with a specialty wardrobe for every case. When she did child abuse cases, she wore ribbons in her hair like a little girl. And when she asked for the death penalty, she wore her white gabardine dress with puffs on the shoulders like angel's wings, as though she had been sent by God himself to conduct this poor, misguided soul to the other world.
Page 225: But even without it (the December 11th tape, which was ultimately played later in the first trial) she was confident that one tape was damning enough to force the defense to change its strategy. [Dr. L Jerome] Oziel's credibility was shaky, but the defense, she felt, couldn't risk a go-for-broke claim that the boys hadn't done it. So what would the defense be?
"Battered child syndrome," Bozanich guessed. In other words, it would be Arnel Salvatierra (a 17-year-old who shot and killed his physically and verbally abusive father in 1988; he was represented by Leslie Abramson and Marcia Morrissey and he was ultimately convicted of voluntary manslaughter and received probation. Like Lyle and Erik, he believed his father would kill him) all over again, only this time with Jose Menendez in the role of abusive father. "They will go for voluntary manslaughter."
The definition of battered child syndrome: The battered-child syndrome, a clinical condition in young children who have received serious physical abuse, is a frequent cause of permanent injury or death. The syndrome should be considered in any child exhibiting evidence of fracture of any bone, subdural hematoma, failure to thrive, soft tissue swellings or skin bruising, in any child who dies suddenly, or where the degree and type of injury is at variance with the history given regarding the occurrence of the trauma. Psychiatric factors are probably of prime importance in the pathogenesis of the disorder, but knowledge of these factors is limited. Physicians have a duty and responsibility to the child to require a full evaluation of the problem and to guarantee that no expected repetition of trauma will be permitted to occur.
Battered child syndrome is regarding physical abuse, not sexual abuse. Also, sexual abuse was not commonly used as a defense at the time. Physical abuse was beginning to be used as a defense, but sexual abuse was not. Moreover, Bozanich likes to brag that she was a "sex crimes prosecutor", and has cited her failed prosecution of the McMartin preschool trial as something that made her an expert on CSA. Yet, she continually promotes myths about child sexual abuse and the perpetrators. In her mind, a child has to be starved, locked in a closet, or suffer broken bones or serious injuries to have been physically abused. It's clear that she has no real understanding of abuse, yet thought nothing of using her own father's abuse experience in her closing argument to try to convey how a victim of abuse should act or should feel. In this latest docuseries, she made a fool of herself. She said that people who believe Lyle and Erik Menendez are "stupid" (this includes jurors and experts like Dr. Ann Burgess who evaluated the brothers and analyzed the crime scene). Bozanich continually states that she wants nothing more to do with this case, yet she has continually given interviews about it, and has made a point of spreading misinformation. This is further proof that she is not trustworthy, IMO.
