Entertainment executive, Jose Menendez, and his wife, Kitty Menendez, were fatally shot in their Beverly Hills home on Aug. 20, 1989. The murder quickly took media coverage, and questions on who could’ve committed this crime circulated with speculations of a mafia hit. Around seven months later after the discovery of confession tapes, their sons, Lyle and Erik Menendez, were arrested for the murder of their parents.
With the recent release of season two of anthology series “Monster,” a multi-perspective dramatized retelling of the brother’s story, the interest in this case has rekindled, especially among the youth. This isn’t the first time where a case from the past is revisited by a younger generation, and the consensus is completely opposite from that of when the case first occurred.
Who are the Menendez brothers?
Broadcasted on live television, the brothers first went to court in the summer of 1993 and became a media sensation. Prosecutors claimed the brothers motives pertained to money and their parents’ large fortune, while the defense team argued the brothers endured years of sexual abuse at the hands of their father and acted in self defense. Concluding in a deadlocked jury, the first trial was anticlimactic. For the retrial, the judge aimed to avoid another hung jury so there would be no mentions of the abuse nor would this trial be televised. The second trial concluded with the brothers being charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two consecutive life sentences each, without the possibility of parole.
The main split between the country in the 90s laid between whether the brothers motive was related to money or the abuse.
A New Look
In the 90s, the main roar in the media was that these two boys maliciously killed their parents for the goal of financial gain and financial gain alone, but with 21st century movements like #MeToo, society has become more aware and educated on sexual abuse and its victims.
For the past month, the Menendez brothers have been a huge topic of conversation throughout the country as Gen Z, who weren’t even alive when the trials occurred, takes a look at the case from a more sympathetic perspective.
“Mental illness and things like that are just more talked about now,” Junior Mackenzie Work said. “They were suffering, they wanted to end the misery and believed it was the only way out.”
There are still aspects of the case that remain unknown, causing uncertainty to outside perspectives.
“It is hard to say why they did it,” Junior Faye Shepteban said. “They have a strong reason on why they felt they had to do it for safety. But, after their crime they went on a huge shopping spree which makes their intention of the crime seem suspicious. They have my sympathy because of what they went through, but what sort of puts me in the middle of this is their whole shopping spree after.”
Other cases that attracted media attention have gotten more sympathy from the justice system than the brothers did. Virginia McCullough, a 36 year old woman from Essex, England, was sentenced to 36 years for the poisoning, beating and killing of her parents prior to hiding their deceased bodies for several years.
“This girl who just killed her parents and hid them for four years, only got 36 years in prison,” Work said. “I would’ve sentenced [the brothers] to a mental institution instead.”
A Controversial Depiction
Producer and co-writer of “Monsters: the Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” Ryan Murphy, has gotten a lot of feedback from the media for the way that the brothers are depicted in the show.
“They inaccurately depicted Lyle because of the way they painted his anger, and Erik because they made him gay, which in real life he has a wife,” Junior Marissa Sordi said.
Though certain scenes and theories in the show have been deemed controversial by the media, the show did recreate court scenes that were televised live in 1993 on CourtTV.
“They depicted abuse, or some scenes that they had to go off of correctly, but I think they did make stuff up and dramatize the story,” Sordi said.
Tammi Menendez, Erik Menendez’s wife, posted a statement through X of Erik’s own response to the Netflix series.
“I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show,” Tammi Menendez said.
The Fascination with True-Crime
The Menendez brothers’ case isn’t the first true crime story to attract large media coverage and interest, 119 million Americans are true-crime podcast listeners and 84% of the U.S. population watch true-crime through platforms such as social media and television.
“I think true crime is interesting to society because many people have something thrilling that they are able to talk about with others,” Shepteban said. “It causes debates on what really happened, why a criminal would do something. It creates conversation, which everyone loves.”
The Potential Revision
Since the release of “Monsters” on Sept. 19, the case has been brought back into the media through social media platforms like TikTok, where the public demands justice for the brothers.
“The case wouldn’t be brought back to court most likely, if it wasn’t for the show,” Sordi said.
District Attorney of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office, George Gascon, has officially recommended a resentencing for the brothers after the large outcry from the media. They are now eligible for parole immediately, and Gascon is set to present the question of resentencing to Judge Michael Jesic on Dec. 11.
The conversation will continue, and questions will continue to be asked, but what happened that night in 1989 remains notorious, and what happened in that house continues to spark conversations of justice for male victims.
“They were young when they committed the crime, so at the time it may have seemed reasonable to some people because they were given this sentence by the book,” Shepteban said. “However, their backstory on why they did this and certainly their age when they did this should play a factor into reevaluating what their charges are, especially now since they are much older.”
If you or someone who know is a victim or survivor of physical, mental or sexual abuse, please reach out to the Victim Connect Resource Center below for help and information: https://victimconnect.org/resources/national-hotlines/
For more information and updates about the Menendez brothers case and their chance at freedom, click the link below:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c170l0n8j54o
Sign the petition below if you are interested in freeing the Menendez brothers: https://www.change.org/p/jail-for-getting-abused-free-the-menendez-brothers
