 "Who are the Menendez brothers, the inspiration for Netflix series, who could walk out of jail after 34 years?")
The Menendez brothers, convicted of killing their wealthy parents in 1989 in the United States’ California, could finally walk out of jail after being imprisoned for over three decades. Lyle and Erik Menendez had killed their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home more than 35 years ago.
While they did not deny the murders, there has been debate about their motive to commit the crime. Now, Los Angeles County’s district attorney has recommended to throw out the brothers’ life without the possibility of parole sentences and asked a judge to resentence them.
Let’s take a closer look.
Who are the Menendez brothers?
Lyle Menendez and Erik Menendez were the children of Jose, a music executive, and Mary Louise, a former beauty queen who went by the name Kitty.
Lyle was a star tennis player and his younger brother was a nationally-ranked junior tennis player. After the family moved from Princeton, New Jersey to California’s Los Angeles, Erik, an adolescent at the time, got involved in burglaries in 1988.
Their move to California had come just a few years before the murders.
Lyle joined Princeton University but was suspended for a year for plagiarism.
According to Vanity Fair, two weeks before the murders, Erik entered the 1989 Boys Junior National Championship and reached the second round in the Boys 18 singles.
The 1989 Menendez couple’s murder
On August 20, 1989, Jose and Kitty Menendez were shot multiple times in the family room of their Beverly Hills mansion.
Later, Lyle Menendez, then 21, had called 911, screaming: “Someone killed my parents.” He and his brother Erik, who was 18 years old at the time, told investigators that they were out to watch a movie but had to return to retrieve Erik’s ID.
It was then that they discovered their parents’ bodies. At the time, Jose was working for a film studio and investigators initially suspected the murders to be linked to his business dealings, as per CBS News.
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For the burglaries in 1988, Erik avoided prison and was taking a court-ordered therapy with the psychologist Dr Jerome Oziel.
Judalon Smyth, the girlfriend of Dr Oziel, told the police that the brothers had confessed to killing their parents in therapy and there was an audiotape of these confessions.
Lyle Menendez was arrested by Beverly Hills Police on March 8, 1990 outside the mansion where his parents were killed.
Two days later, Erik, who was in Israel for a tennis tournament, returned to the US and surrendered at the Los Angeles International Airport.
The Menendez brothers’ murder case
There was great public attention on the Menendez brothers ’ case. Their high-profile trials were among the first cases to be televised in the US.
The first trial began on July 20, 1993, with separate juries for each brother. The court proceedings were broadcast on cable TV, triggering a national obsession with the case, as per Biography.com.
The brothers admitted to killing their parents. However, they argued they should not be convicted because they acted in self-defence. The brothers took the stand and testified about the years of sexual, physical and psychological abuse by their father.
Lyle told the court his father started sexually abusing him when he was only six years old and it stopped when he turned eight. He also said he was sexually abused by both his mother and father, reported CBS News.
Erik said that he was molested by his father from ages six to 18. He revealed he had finally confided in his brother, Lyle, just days before the murder.
They said their mother knew about the abuse but never stopped it, reported New York Times (NYT).
According to their testimonies, Lyle soon confronted his father about sexually assaulting Erik and, as the situation worsened, they believed their parents would kill them to keep the family secret hidden.
They said they believed their parents would kill them on the night of the crime and so they shot them.
Prosecutors pushed back on the self-defence claim. They alleged the motive was money and the brothers wanted to inherit a multimillion-dollar fortune. The duo had purchased Rolex watches, a Porsche car and real estate, and invested in businesses in the months between the murders and their arrest.
Both juries said they were divided over whether the brothers should be convicted of murder or manslaughter. This led to a mistrial.
In the second trial that began in October 1995, there was a single jury for both the brothers. The judge barred the defence lawyers from using the “abuse excuse”, excluding evidence about sexual abuse.
In 1996, the brothers were found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Freedom for Menendez brothers?
There has been a renewed interest in the case in recent years, especially during the pandemic when TikTok videos created a support network for the brothers.
Netflix series, _Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,_ released last month and a documentary on the Menendez case aired this month has triggered a whole new fascination with the case.
American celebrity Kim Kardashian has become an advocate for the brothers, arguing in an essay recently that the case is more complex than it seems and that Erik and Lyle “chose what they thought at the time was their only way out – an unimaginable way to escape their living nightmare”.
After spending decades behind bars, the Menendez brothers now have a chance at freedom.
On Thursday (October 24), the Los Angeles County district attorney, George Gascón, called for their resentencing. He has recommended that the duo be resentenced, a step that is likely to lead to their release from prison.
“After a very careful review of all the arguments made … I came to a place where I believe that, under the law, resentencing is appropriate and I’m going to recommend that to a court tomorrow,” Gascón said.
“I believe that they have paid their debt to society and the system provides a vehicle for their case to be reviewed by a parole board, and if board concurs with my assessment … they will be released accordingly,” he said at a news conference at the Hall of Justice in Los Angeles.
The decision of resentencing will be taken by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. The hearing could take place within the next month, as per Associated Press (AP).
The LA County district attorney said he would ask for the brothers to be sentenced to 50 years to life with the possibility of parole. Gascón’s decision comes after defence attorneys said last year they had new evidence that the brothers were abused by their father.
According to the district attorney, Lyle and Erik Menendez will be eligible for parole immediately under California law because they were younger than 26 when they committed the murders.
“I do believe the brothers were subjected to a tremendous amount of dysfunction in the home, and molestation,” Gascón said.
The district attorney also highlighted the brothers’ behaviour in prison. The brothers earned their college degrees in jail, served as hospice aides to sick inmates, and ran Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and meditation groups for inmates.
If the judge agrees about resentencing, the brothers will then have to appear before a parole board.
If the board green-lights their release, Governor Gavin Newsom’s approval would be required. But the process could take many weeks and the release is not guaranteed.
Gascón’s resentencing recommendation has been welcomed by the family of Lyle and Erik Menendez.
Speaking at the Thursday’s conference, cousins of the Menendez brothers described it as a “day filled with hope” for the family.
But not all agree.
Milton Andersen, Kitty’s brother, has retained a lawyer to object to the brothers’ release. He told NYT last year that Lyle and Erik “do not deserve to walk on the face of this earth after killing my sister and my brother-in-law.”
With inputs from agencies
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