Menendez v. Superior Court
Supreme Court of California
834 P.2d 786 (Cal. 1992)
Lyle and Erik Menendez (brothers, defendants) were accused of killing their parents. A search warrant produced tape recordings of four therapy sessions the brothers had with their psychologist, Dr. Oziel. In the first two sessions, Lyle implicitly or directly threatened to kill Dr. Oziel after learning that Erik had confessed the murders to him; the latter two sessions contained no such threats. Dr. Oziel argued all four sessions were protected by the psychotherapist-patient privilege. The trial court rejected that claim as to all four sessions, and the court of appeals affirmed.
Whether the psychotherapist-patient privilege applies to a therapy session in which the patient implicitly threatens to kill the therapist.