Who is Dr Jerome Oziel? The Menendez brothers’ therapist who got their confession and cracked the case
On September 19, Ryan Murphy’s second true crime adaptation, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, was released on Netflix.
Starring Javier Bardem, Chloë Sevigny, Nicholas Chavez, and Cooper Koch, the series is a fictional reimagining of the 1989 murders of José and Kitty Menendez by their two sons, Lyle and Erik.
It wasn’t until seven months after the killings that the brothers were eventually apprehended thanks to a confession recorded by Erik’s psychologist.
Dr Jeremy Oziel (played by Dallas Roberts in the series) was the first person to hear of the crimes, but it was his mistress and former client, Judalon Smyth (Leslie Grossma), who informed police about the evidence’s existence.
Here is everything to know about how Oziel and his relationship with Smyth led to the arrest and subsequent sentencing of the Menendez Brothers.
Who is Jerome Oziel?
Jerome Oziel was Erik Menendez’s licensed psychologist and the first to hear Erik confess to the murders of his parents.
During an impromptu October 31 session in 1989, Erik talked about his nightmares about his parents and feeling depressed. He eventually admitted that he and his brother had killed them. Lyle and Erik met with Oziel together, according to the LA Times’ 1993 trial coverage, and confessed to the murders together, which Oziel recorded on tape.
After this meeting, Oziel claimed he was “of the firm belief that Erik and Lyle were going to murder” him, per his trial testimony.
Oziel testified that he left the session and called his wife Laurel to make sure she and their kids were out of the house. He then drove to Smyth’s house to tell her what happened.
Oziel later surrendered his license to practice. He is still alive, but he no longer lives in California.
Who is Judalon Smyth?
Judalon Smyth was Oziel’s former client and mistress at the time of Erik’s confession. Oziel was having an affair with Smyth, who claimed to be listening outside the door when the brothers admitted to the murders.
Smyth tipped off the police after Oziel ended their relationship. The psychologist cut things off with Smyth four months after Erik had confessed to him. This led Smyth to tell the authorities that she’d heard Erik say he and his brother killed their parents through Oziel’s door and that the doctor had tapes of their discussion. She also claimed Oziel told her about Erik’s confession.
Oziel’s house was searched for the tapes and the Menendez brothers were arrested in March of 1990.
Smyth is still alive, but she has remained out of the public eye since the trial ended.
Did Oziel and Smyth testify at the Menendez brothers’ trials?
Both Oziel and Smyth testified during the Menendez trial. However, due to doctor-patient confidentiality, it took over two years for Oziel’s tapes to be admitted as evidence in the trial.
During the 1993 trial, Oziel testified that Lyle and Erik had threatened his life after Erik’s Halloween session, which was cause for the tapes to finally be allowed as evidence.
Erik’s defense attorney, Leslie Abramson, attempted to discredit Oziel as a witness by arguing he kept inappropriate relationships with his clients.
Smyth’s testimony during the 1993 proceedings discounted her original report. Despite telling a TV interviewer and the authorities the opposite, on the stand, the mistress admitted she never heard Erik nor Lyle confess “from their mouths” to killing their parents.
In fact, she argued that Oziel had “brainwashed” her and caused her to develop post-traumatic stress disorder. She also said she should not be held responsible for faults or contradictions in her testimony because of this.
