Inside the Twists and Turns of the Menendez Case After DA Possibly Paves Way for Brothers to Go Free

Mar. 15, 2025

Erik Menendez, Leslie Abramson, Lyle Menendez.Photo:Ted Soqui/Sygma/Getty

Ted Soqui/Sygma/Getty

Jose, a 45-year-old business executive, was shot multiple times, including point blank in the head. Kitty, 47, also suffered multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the face.

At their 1993 trial, prosecutors claimed the brothersfatally shottheir parents for their $14 million fortune. However, the brothers testified that they didn’t kill their parents for money but rather because they feared Jose, after years of alleged sexual abuse, and Kitty, who they claim knew about the molestation but never tried to stop it, were planning to kill their sons.

The sensational trial ended with a deadlock. The brothers weretried againand were convicted of the first-degree murders in 1996 and subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Over the years, the brothers appealed their convictions but were denied.

More recently, the case, which has become the subject of a Netflix documentary,The Menendez Brothers, as well as the Ryan Murphy-produced Netflix dramatic seriesMonsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, gained traction after the brothers’ lawyers filed ahabeas corpus petitionasking to have the case reviewed.

On Thursday, Oct. 24, more than a year after the petition was filed, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said he supports that the siblings be resentenced.

Here are some of the case’s twists and turns.

Social Media Support

In an interview withNews Nation, comedianRosie O’Donnellthanked the younger generation for starting the online movement and advocating for their release.

The Menendez family.ABC

ABC

Habeas Corpus Petition

In May 2023, the brothers’ lawyers filed ahabeas corpus petitionwith the Los Angeles County Superior Court, citing new evidence in the case.

In the petition, defense attorneys also pointed to a letterErik wroteto his now-deceased cousin Andy Cano describing his father’s alleged sexual abuse months before the killings.

“I don’t know I’ll make it through this,” Erik wrote in the letter.

Netflix Programming Brings Attention to Case

In late 2024, Netflix aired two productions focused on the brothers. The first wasRyan Murphy’s true-crime dramaMonsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

On Friday, Sept. 20, the day after the Murphy series aired, Erikslammed the showsaying it was “rooted in horrible and blatant lies” about him and Lyle, and slammed Murphy for airing false information.

“I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent,” Erik said.

Murphy toldThe Hollywood Reporteron Tuesday, Oct. 1 that the brothers “should be sending me flowers,” he said. “They haven’t had so much attention in 30 years. And it’s gotten the attention of not only this country, but all over the world. There’s sort of an outpouring of interest in their lives and in the case.”

Nicholas Chavez as Lyle Menendez, Chloe Sevigny as Kitty Menendez, Javier Bardem as Jose Menendez, Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez in Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story.Courtesy Of Netflix

Courtesy Of Netflix

“I know for a fact that many people have offered to help them because of the interest of my show and what we did,” he continued. “There is no world that we live in where the Menéndez brothers or their wives or lawyers would say, ‘You know what, that was a wonderful, accurate depiction of our clients.’ That was never going to happen, and I wasn’t interested in that happening.”

Murphy said he and co-creatorIan Brennanfelt that they had an “obligation” to tell the stories of other people in the Erik and Lyle’s orbit, including their parents.

In the Netflix documentaryThe Menendez Brothers, which began streaming Oct. 7, the brothers spent more than 20 hoursopening upto director Alejandro Hartmann about growing up in Beverly Hills with a hard-driving father who they accuse of sexually abusing them to how horrified they said they felt after gunning down their parents in 1989.

DA Previously Said He Was Keeping ‘Open Mind’ About Case

On Thursday, Oct. 3, just days after theMonsterwas released, Gascón announced at a press conference that he was “keeping an open” mind aboutthe Menendez brothers’bid for release.

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“I’m not leaning in any direction right now,” said. “We have people in the office that are looking at this very carefully, very experienced lawyers that are looking at this. Their recommendation will be presented to me, but the final decision will be mine.”

Acknowledging that the brothers “were clearly the murderers,” Gascón said his office had “a moral and an ethical obligation to review what is being presented to us” and to determine if such evidence could have swayed jurors away from first-degree murder convictions.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

source: people.com