DR Jerome Oziel was one of the first people that Erik Menendez confessed to about the crime he had committed alongside his older brother Lyle.
The brothers’ had murdered their parents, Kitty and Jose, in a killing that shocked America.
The crime was dramatised in Ryan Murphy’s series Monsters and was explored further in the Netflix documentary The Menendez Brothers.
Here’s everything you need to know about the confession that changed everything in the Menendez case.
A shock confession
Jerome had been working as a therapist since getting his doctorate in 1972, but met the Menendez brothers in 1988.
He took on Erik and Lyle as clients after they had committed a series of burglaries.
Jerome then became one of the first people that Erik confessed to after he and his brother murdered their parents.
Due to patient-therapist confidentiality laws, Jeremy did not report his client’s confession to the police but he did decide to begin recording their sessions.
He also told his mistress, Judalon Smyth, about Erik’s confession in a decision that directly led to the arrests of both brothers.
When Jerome split up with Judalon, she told the police everything that Erik had shared with his therapist including details about the recordings.
It took some time to determine if the tapes could be used in court, but two of the recordings eventually became key parts of the trial.
Erik and Lyle’s crime
On August 20, 1989, the Menendez brothers entered their parents home and murdered them in a brutal shooting.
They phoned the police and lived a lavish lifestyle, free of suspicion for months.
Erik and Lyle even sat in the front row of a high-profile basketball game after the crime.
However, Erik’s confession to Jerome eventually caught up to them and they were arrested.
The Menendez Trial
Jerome became one of the prosecution’s key witnesses, though therapists are rarely called to testify in court.
An exception was made in Jerome’s case, however, as Judalon reportedly overheard Lyle make a threat on Jerome’s life.
This voided Jerome’s need to honor therapist-patient confidentiality.
In the first trial, the brothers opened up about their alleged abuse at the hands of their father but the trial ended in a hung jury.
In the second trial, restrictions were put in place that limited how much they could talk about their claimed sex abuse.
The court case was broadcast on Court TV and soon Americans were glued to their screens.
Eventually, both brothers were sentenced to life in prison without parole.
After the trial
Once the Menendez brothers were sentenced, Jerome had his license to practice as a therapist revoked.
The California Board of Psychology said that had wrongfully shared information with Judalon and also alleged that she was a client of his.
This would mean that their relationship could be classified as sexual misconduct.
Jerome agreed to surrender his license, but told Bustle in 2017 that this was not because of the accusations against him.
Jerome said: “I did not surrender my license due to the accusation, which implies I gave up my practice because I did things alleged in the original accusation.
“I had phased out of my practice because I had a major business offer that was highly lucrative and moved to be the CEO of a large business in another state a year and a half prior to the surrender. … No agency ever found I did a thing that was improper or wrong.”
He now lives in Albuquerque and goes by the name “Jerry”.
