Lyle Menendez (second from left) and his brother Eric are flanked by their attorneys Gerald Chaleff (left) and Robert Shapiro, in Beverly Hills Municipal Court in 1990. Nick Ut/AP Hide caption
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It’s been more than 30 years since brothers Eric and Lyle Menendez went on trial for murder, and the story continues to grab attention and make headlines.
During the first two trials for the murder of their parents, the case was a public case and was among a series of sensational criminal trials broadcast live around the world.
But that was in 1994. So why is this issue back in the public consciousness after all these years?
Thank social media, Netflix, Kim Kardashian, and Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, who announced this week that his office is re-examining the evidence.
Read on for the latest developments in this decades-long case.
The Menendez brothers were imprisoned for the murder of their parents
In August 1989, Jose and Kitty Menendez were watching television in the living room of their Beverly Hills home when their sons entered and shot them to death. At the time of the murder, the two men were 18 and 21 years old.
It took two trials to convict the brothers of murdering their parents.
A jury deadlocked in 1994 after Lyle and Eric Menendez testified that they shot their parents in self-defense. The brothers said they feared their parents would kill them to prevent stories about their alleged abuse of their children.
Eric Menendez (left) in 2016 and Lyle Menendez in 2018 are shown in photos provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation/AP hide caption
Toggle caption California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation/AP
They claim, and continue to say, that Jose Menendez subjected the boys to physical and sexual abuse for years, while their mother, who was portrayed as an unstable alcoholic who also abused them, did nothing to stop it. Prosecutors alleged that the men planned the eventual murder with the aim of claiming their parents’ multi-million dollar estate.
In the second trial, Judge Stanley Weisberg limited his testimony regarding their sexual assault claims. In 1996, a jury found them guilty of first-degree murder after five days of deliberations and a 20-week trial.
Why are prosecutors taking another look at the case now?
Gascón, the attorney general, announced Thursday that his office is reviewing new evidence in the case of 53-year-old Eric and 56-year-old Lyle Menendez.
The brothers asked the court to overturn their conviction, which resulted in them being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, in a petition filed in May, citing new evidence.
Gascón points out that there is no doubt that the brothers killed their parents, a fact that both acknowledge. But he said his office had a “moral and ethical obligation” to review the evidence. This evidence includes a copy of a letter from one of the brothers to another family member in which he states that he is a victim of sexual harassment. Another testimony came from a member of the famous Latin band Menudo, who said that Jose Menendez molested him in his early teens when he was an executive at RCA Records. Gascón said none of this information has been confirmed.
Lyle Menendez looks on as he testifies in the 1995 retrial of he and his brother Eric for the shotgun killings of their parents in Los Angeles. Steve Grayson/Pool UPI/AP hide caption
Toggle Caption Steve Grayson/Pool UPI/AP
He added that there could be several options for how prosecutors handle Menendez’s case, including seeking a new sentence, release from prison or a new trial.
The next hearing in this case is scheduled for November 29.
How does Ryan Murphy’s new show and social media fit into this?
Years ago, content creators on social media sites like TikTok began drawing renewed attention to the issue. Many true crime junkies have made videos revisiting Menendez’s trials and crime and discussing how their fathers’ alleged abuse may have contributed to their actions.
This new generation of interest in the case has contributed to Ryan Murphy’s controversial new Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which revisits the trials.
However, Eric Menendez criticized the series. In a statement shared by his wife, Tammy Menendez, on Channel X, he criticized the show, saying it created a misleading image of him and his brother. He wrote that there were “blatant lies spread throughout the show” and accused co-creator Murphy of deliberately distorting the facts surrounding his crime.
Cooper Koch as Eric Menendez (left) and Nicholas Chavez as Lyle Menendez in Episode 8 of Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Eric Menendez. /Netflix Hide caption
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“It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be so naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives as to do so without ill intent,” Eric Menendez wrote.
Murphy was defiant in his response to Eric Menendez’s post, saying the brothers’ reaction was “fake anger,” and that the display “is the best thing that happened to the Menendez brothers in their 30 years in prison.”
And Kim Kardashian is involved, how?
Kardashian, a businesswoman, reality TV star and criminal justice advocate, commented on the case earlier this week. In an op-ed published on NBC News, Kardashian called for the brothers’ release, writing, “I spent time with Lyle and Eric; they are not monsters. They are good, smart, honest men.”
She visited the two in prison about a month ago with Cooper Koch, who plays Eric Menendez in the new Netflix series.
Kardashian said in her article that she does not justify their crimes or actions after that, but she believes that the men, who are now in their 50s, deserve freedom.
She continued: “If this crime had been committed and tried today, I believe the outcome would have been dramatically different. I also firmly believe that they were denied a fair second trial and that the exclusion of crucial evidence of abuse deprived Eric and Lyle of the opportunity to investigate.” “To present their case in full, further undermining the fairness of their conviction.”
