Essay About Greed

Greed. Greed is a dirty emotion. Greed is what drove two boys to brutally murder their parents. Not only did they know what they did was wrong, but they covered it up, and they acted out as if they were remorseful. Greed lead them to become accustomed to a lifestyle where they could have anything they wanted. When their parents said no, they turned to crime. When stealing wasn't enough, they decided on the ultimate crime, to murder their parents and to have their inheritance. Crime, greed, and the avoidance of what's right and what's wrong. All because they needed to fuel their habits of living a lifestyle they felt they deserved and were entitled to, and had absolute disregard for their parents. Erik and Lyle Menéndez are guilty of brutally murdering their father, José, and their mother, Kitty, with 15 rounds from two 12-gauge shotguns. The Menéndez brothers argue that they had to kill their father and that they acted in self-defense against him. They claim that growing up, José was very abusive and had high expectations for them, but his abuse went beyond emotional abuse and the pressures of high expectations. They said that their father molested them since their childhood, thus they were protecting themselves. On the night of the murder, the brothers claimed that they needed to stop at home to grab Erik’s ID before they went to the movies. Then, when they went inside, they discovered that their parents were brutally murdered. Afterward, they called the first responders and when they arrived, Erik was outside sobbing on the lawn. However, typically when children find their parents brutally murdered, they act depressed and not as if they had just won the lottery. At the time of Josés death, he was worth over $14 million. Within the next 6 months following his death, Erik and Lyle spent $700k of his fortune on things such as a new Rolex watch and a new sports car.  Also, within this time span, Erik had been caught in a series of burglaries which led to a court requiring him to go to therapy. While Erik was meeting with his therapist, Dr. Jerome Oziel, Erik confessed to him and Lyle murdering their parents. Oziel then told Erik's mistress, Judalon Symth, who claimed that he was very controlling and abusive towards her. After multiple sessions with the Menéndez brothers, Oziel was able to get the brother's confession on tape. During the trial, one of their cousins stepped forward and stated that the brothers weren’t lying because growing up, Lyle would tell him similar stories. Also, they stated how Kitty was a drug addict, an alcoholic, and someone who was very unstable The brothers killed their parents for their own greed. Many may try to argue that they had to kill their parents out of self-defense to protect themselves from being abused even more. That statement may be true, however, if the brothers were truly trying to protect themselves, they wouldn't have spent most of their parent's fortune within six months of their death. Also, the brothers killed their parents so brutally that the investigators first thought this was a mob killing, if they were trying to act in self-defense, the parents would not have been killed so brutally and in a controlled manner.