Erik Menendez (left) is shown in 2016 and Lyle Menendez in 2018 in photos 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 murder trials of brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez, and the story continues to turn heads and take over headlines.
During the first of their two trials for murdering their parents, the case was public fodder and was among a series of sensationalized, criminal trials broadcast live around the world.
But that was 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 evidence.
Read on to get a handle on the latest developments of this decades-old case.
The Menendez brothers are incarcerated 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.
It took two trials to convict the brothers of their parents’ murders.
Two juries deadlocked in 1994 after Lyle and Erik Menendez testified that they shot their parents in self-defense. The brothers said they had feared their parents were going to kill them to prevent stories emerging about their alleged abuse of their sons.
Lyle Menendez (second from left) and his brother, Erik are flanked by their attorneys Gerald Chaleff (left) and Robert Shapiro, in Beverly Hills Municipal Court in 1990.
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Nick Ut/AP
They allege, 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. The prosecutors claimed the men planned the murder ultimately with the goal to claim their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate.
In the second trial, Judge Stanley Weisberg limited testimony related to their claims of sexual abuse. In 1996, that jury found them guilty on first-degree murder following a five-day deliberation and a 20-week long trial.
Why are prosecutors taking another look at the case now?
Gascón, the DA, announced Thursday that his office is reviewing new evidence in the case of now 53-year-old Erik and 56-year-old Lyle Menendez.
The brothers asked the court to vacate their conviction, which resulted in a life prison sentence without the possibility of parole, in a petition filed back in May, citing new evidence.
Gascón notes there is no question that the brothers killed their parents — a fact the two have admitted. But, he said, his office has a “moral and ethical obligation” to review the evidence. That evidence includes a photocopy of a letter from one of the brothers to another family member mentioning him being a victim of molestation. Another is testimony from one of the members of the hit Latin band Menudo who said Jose Menendez molested him in his early teens while he was an executive at RCA Records. None of this information has been confirmed, Gascón said.
Lyle Menendez looks up during testimony in his and brother Erik’s 1995 retrial for the shotgun slayings of their parents in Los Angeles.
Steve Grayson/Pool UPI/AP
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Steve Grayson/Pool UPI/AP
He added there can be several options for how prosecutors tackle the Menendez case including seeking a new sentence, release from prison or a new trial.
The next hearing on this case is scheduled Nov. 29.
How does Ryan Murphy’s new show and social media fit into this?
Years ago, creators on social media sites like TikTok started to bring a renewed attention to the case. Many true crime junkies have made videos reexamining the Menendez trials, their crime and discussing how their alleged abuse by their parents may have contributed to their actions.
This new generation of attention on the case contributed to a new, controversial Netflix series from Ryan Murphy called Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which revisits the trials.
But Erik Menendez bashed the series. In a statement shared by his wife, Tammi Menendez, on X, he criticized the show, saying it created a misleading portrayal of him and his brother. He wrote that there are “blatant lies rampant in the show” and accused co-creator Murphy of intentionally distorting the facts surrounding their crime.
Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez (left) and Nicholas Chavez as Lyle Menendez in episode 8 of Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story.
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Erik Menendez wrote, “It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naïve and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent.”
Murphy was defiant in his response to Erik Menendez’s post, saying the brothers’ reaction was “faux outrage,” and that the show “is the best thing that has happened to the Menendez brothers in 30 years in prison.”
And Kim Kardashian is involved, how?
Kardashian, a businesswoman, reality star and criminal justice advocate, weighed in on the case earlier this week. In an op-ed published on NBC News, Kardashian called for the brothers’ release, writing, “I have spent time with Lyle and Erik; they are not monsters. They are kind, intelligent, and honest men.”
She visited the two in prison almost a month ago along with Cooper Koch, who played Erik Menendez in the new Netflix series.
Kardashian said in her essay that she doesn’t excuse their crimes or their actions afterwards, but believes the men, now in their 50s, deserve freedom.
She continued, “Had this crime been committed and trialed today, I believe the outcome would have been dramatically different. I also strongly believe that they were denied a fair second trial and that the exclusion of crucial abuse evidence denied Erik and Lyle the opportunity to fully present their case, further undermining the fairness of their conviction.”
