The Menendez murder case has faded from the pages of history in recent years, but it dominated the news cycle for many months as two brothers who seemingly had it all went on trial for the savage murders of their parents. The case pretty much put Court TV, which had been established in July 1991, on the map, as the network broadcast the soap opera of a trial live in 1993, and famed author Dominick Dunne's coverage of the trial brought the case even further attention.

It was a most extraordinary case on its own merits. By that point, the brothers had admitted their guilt, so all of the who, what, when and how questions had already been answered -- all that was left was the why. And so the world watched as these rich preppy brothers wept on the stand and accused their parents of years and years of sexual abuse. Of course, such reported abuse doesn't justify murder, so the brothers tried to convince the jury that they were in fear for their lives -- and that they only killed their parents because they were convinced their parents were planning to murder them.

It made for great theater, but it made something of a mockery of the whole legal system. Still, it was not an ineffective strategy; the first trial resulted in two hung juries (each brother had a different jury). The case was retried, and that jury didn't buy what the brothers were selling. They were convicted and given life sentences with no possibility of parole.

This was a most vicious and hateful crime. The brothers unloaded shot after shot into their parents, even going outside to reload so they could blow more blasts into the two victims who were almost unrecognizable when all was said and done. The American public was shocked that two brothers could do something like this to their parents. The brothers initially blamed the Mafia for the crime -- but seven months (and three quarters of a million dollars blown through) later, Lyle and Erik Menendez were arrested for the murders.

Along with plenty of footage from the trials, this documentary features extensive interviews with Dominick Dunne, a friend of the brothers who believes their story of abuse, as well as journalist Steve Dunleavy and others. Dunleavy, of course, leaves no doubt as to his feelings for the brothers' performance in court, and I think few would disagree with his assessment of the two brothers as evil liars. Dunne provides the most insight into the case, though, revealing facts that were not allowed in court -- such as the ruse by which the brothers were able to speak to one another by phone to discuss their defense strategy without prosecutors or prison officials knowing about it. He even has a compelling argument for the origins of the sexual abuse defense strategy, which pretty much came out of nowhere in time for the first trial.

It's still unclear exactly why the Menendez brothers savagely killed their parents, but they were unquestionably guilty. Greed almost surely played a large part in the murders, but Dunne suspects there is a piece to the puzzle that remains missing -- and only the brothers would know what that is. Ultimately, though, setting aside all of the theatrics of the trials, this was a particularly important criminal case, setting new precedents in the "abuse excuse" legal defense strategy.