Erik Menendez (left) is shown in 2016 and Lyle Menendez in 2018 in a photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation / AP
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California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation / AP
It’s been more than 30 years since the attempted murders of brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez, and the story continues to make headlines and grab headlines.
During the first of two attempts to kill his parents, the case was public fodder and was among a series of sensational criminal trials broadcast live around the world.
But in 1994. Why, after so many years, is this case back in the public consciousness?
Thank social media, Netflix, Kim Kardashian — and Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, who announced this week that his office is reexamining the evidence.
Read on to find out the latest developments in this decades-old case.
The Menendez brothers are in prison for killing their parents
In August 1989, Jose and Kitty Menendez were watching television in the living room of their Beverly Hills home when their two sons walked in 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 their parents’ murder.
Two juries deadlocked in 1994 after Lyle and Erik Menendez testified that they shot their parents in self-defense. The brothers said they feared their parents would kill them to prevent stories of abuse from their son.
Lyle Menendez (second from left) and his brother, Erik flanked by attorneys Gerald Chaleff (left) and Robert Shapiro, in Beverly Hills Municipal Court in 1990.
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Nick Ut/AP
She claimed, and continues to say, that Jose Menendez subjected the boys to physical and sexual abuse for years, while their mother, described as an unstable alcoholic who also abused them, did nothing to stop them. Prosecutors claimed that the men planned the murders with the aim of claiming their parents’ multi-million dollar estate.
In the second trial, Judge Stanley Weisberg limited testimony related to the sexual assault charges. In 1996, a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder after five days of deliberations and a 20-week trial.
Why are prosecutors now re-examining the case?
Gascón, the DA, announced Thursday that his office is reviewing new evidence in the case of 53-year-old Erik and 56-year-old Lyle Menendez.
The brothers asked the court to vacate the conviction, which resulted in a life sentence without the possibility of parole, in a petition filed in May, citing new evidence.
Gascón notes that there is no question that the brothers killed their parents – an acknowledged fact. But, he said, his office has a “moral and ethical obligation” to review the evidence. The evidence included a photocopy of a letter from one of the siblings to another family member alleging he was a victim of molestation. Another is the testimony of one of the members of the Latin band Menudo who said that Jose Menendez molested him when he was young when he was an executive at RCA Records. None of this information has been confirmed, Gascón said.
Lyle Menendez appeared during the testimony in the 1995 retrial of his brother Erik for the shotgun killing of their parents in Los Angeles.
Steve Grayson / Pool UPI / AP
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Steve Grayson / Pool UPI / AP
He added there are several options for how prosecutors handle the Menendez 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?
Last year, creators on social media sites like TikTok began to pay new attention to the case. Many true crime junkies have created videos revisiting Menendez’s trial, crimes and discussing how his parents’ guilt may have led to his actions.
The new generation’s attention to the case contributed to the controversial new Netflix series from Ryan Murphy called it Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez, which revisits trials.
But Erik Menendez denied the streak. In a statement shared by his wife, Tammi Menendez, in X, he criticized the show, saying it created a misleading picture of him and his brother. He wrote that there were “too many falsehoods in the show” and accused creator Murphy of deliberately distorting the facts surrounding the crime.
Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez (left) and Nicholas Chavez as Lyle Menendez in episode 8 of Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez.
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Erik Menendez wrote, “With a heavy heart, I believe that Ryan Murphy could not be naive and inaccurate about the reality of our lives to do this without bad intentions.”
Murphy did not respond to Erik Menendez’s post, saying the brothers’ reaction was “fake outrage,” and that the show “was the best thing that happened to the Menendez brothers in 30 years in prison.”
And Kim Kardashian is involved, how?
Kardashian, entrepreneur, reality star and criminal justice lawyer, weigh in on this case earlier this week. In an op-ed published on NBC News, Kardashian asked for the brother’s release, writing, “I have spent time with Lyle and Erik; they are not monsters. They are kind, intelligent, and honest people.”
He visited the two in prison almost a month ago along with Cooper Koch, who plays Erik Menendez in the new Netflix series.
Kardashian said in the essay she doesn’t excuse his crimes or his actions, but believes the man, now in his 50s, deserves freedom.
He continued, “If this crime had been committed and tried today, I believe that the outcome would have been very different. I also strongly believe that he was denied a fair second trial and that the lack of evidence of significant abuse denied Erik and Lyle the opportunity to fully express the case, further damaging the justice of his conviction.”
