On August 20th, 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez murdered their parents Kitty and Jose Menendez in their Beverly Hills home. Recently Netflix has adopted a docudrama and a documentary on the brothers and the murders themselves, reigniting the overwhelming fascination with the case.
The docudrama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, focuses on the event timeline and allows the viewer to feel close and connected to the brothers with dramaticized elements and an opinionated approach.
“This show is really more interested in talking about how monsters are made as opposed to born. We try to not have much judgment about that because we’re trying to understand why they did something, as opposed to the act of doing something,” Murphy said in an early screening of the show’s first episode, according to Netflix.
Upon watching the show, Erik Menendez did not feel that it did his case any justice.
In a statement shared on social media by his wife he said the show takes the truth back to a time when the prosecution built a narrative that males were not sexually abused and experienced rape in different ways than women.
“Those awful lies have been disrupted and exposed by countless brave victims over the last two decades who have broken through their personal shame and bravely spoken out. So now Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander,” Erik wrote.
On the other hand, The Menendez Brothers, directed by Alejandro Hartmann, is more factual and analytical, featuring interviews with the brothers, those who worked the case, and members of the Menendez family, archival footage, and expert commentary. Its tone is more neutral, aiming to inform instead of entertain as it features many different viewpoints.
There are many things that make this crime as special and interesting as it is, one being the intensive attention it has received. Countless documentaries, segments on news shows, podcasts, and books have been released on the brothers after the fact. However, this has also happened to many criminals such as Ted Bundy, Jeffery Dahmer, and the Zodiac Killer, but this case has so many more elements and complexities of justice and familial loyalty.
On March 8, 1990 the brothers were arrested for the murders of their parents and it quickly became a global news story. Though shocking, the public became less and less surprised that they committed the crimes as it became known that the brothers spent almost one million dollars of their recently obtained inheritance, on designer clothes, cars, and trips.
The public was quick to assume that the brothers killed their parents for money, end of discussion. As the trial began, however, lawyers Leslie Abramson and Jill Lansing took an approach to the case that no one expected: the brothers were sexually, mentally, and physically abused, and the murders were out of self defense.
Nathan Lane, a Vanity Fair journalist who intensively covered the case is featured in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. He brings to light that Leslie Abramson had also defended Arnel Salvatierra, another man who was charged in killing his father. Abramson claimed Salvatierra was abused by his father, and he was given probation.
In July of 1993, the brothers trial was televised on Court TV adding another element of audience captivation. The defense did not try to deny that the brothers committed the murders, they also could not as Erik and Lyle had both admitted to the crimes in multiple ways, but instead they focused on why they occurred. The prosecution was set on the belief that the brothers did this for the money.
Both sides had adequate evidence for their arguments. Multiple witnesses such as members of the Menendez family, psychologists, and the brothers’ testimonies themselves proved the brothers were being abused. The defense used the brothers extensive spending, calmness of behavior before being arrested, the insurance policy gain, and testimonies from the brothers’ friends claiming the brothers had little to no remorse and concern for their parents.
When Erik and Lyle took the stand and spoke about the abuse they endured, they both were extremely emotional, especially Erik who has suffered the most of the abuse. This helped their case and furthermore proved how painful it was to live in the Menendez household.
In January of 1994, both juries were at a deadlock and could not come to a verdict. The retrial began in October of 1995, and according to the defense, evidence of sexual abuse was excluded. Lyle was also not represented in court by Jill Lansing.
Another reason why the Menendez case is so compelling is the vast amount of attention the brothers received from women. The brothers received countless letters from women describing their interest in them and telling them they had their support.
During this Lyle started to form an over the phone relationship with a woman named Norma Novelli. During the course of their relationship, Norma agreed to collaborate with Lyle in writing a book about his story. Lyle would call her, tell her what to type, and then she would edit and publish the book. Without his knowing, Norma recorded the phone calls and sold them.
In Monsters, this is shown as a reason why Lyle did not testify again in the retrial, but this is not particularly the case. Lyle decided not to testify again because he did not have Jill Lansing to support him and testifying in your own murder trial is not advisable because you can be cross examined. The Norma tapes would subject Lyle to cross examination, and would do him more harm than good.
Testifying in your own murder trial is not ideal, but one of them needed to tell their accounts of abuse to the jury and the judge. Though Lyle did not testify again in the retrial, Erik did and he was subjected to cross examination.
The defense was able to poke holes in Erik’s testimony in the retrial in October of 1995. The defense cross examined Erik on where the brothers tried to buy handguns, which proved that even if someone takes the stand and swears they are telling the full truth, you can be caught in something minor that discredits your claims.
Then in March of 1996, the brothers were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
There are many things that were different in the retrial compared to the first trial. Lyle was not represented by Jill Lansing and did not testify, Judge Stanley Weisberg limited testimony related to sexual abuse, and the retrial had a more balanced number of both genders.
In the first trial, the jury was made up of mostly women, which most likely led to the deadlock. Research shows that women jurors may approach cases with different perspectives than men by emphasizing emotional considerations and interpersonal dynamics. The Menendez case used claims of abuse and trauma which most likely resonated differently to a jury made up of more women than men.
There were no updates in the case until May of 2023 when a new docuseries “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed” was released. In the documentary, a member of the boy band Menudo, a band that was about to sign with RCA Records, the company Jose menendez was the head of at the time, claimed he was raped and drugged by Jose at the age of 13 and 14.
This led attorneys for the Menendez brothers to file a habeas petition asking the court to reconsider the conviction as new evidence was being brought to light.
Along with the Menudo member, a letter Erik had written to his cousin Andy would also be included as new evidence.
“I’ve been trying to avoid dad. It’s still happening Andy, but it’s worse for me now… Every night I stay up thinking he might come in… I’m afraid,” Erik said in his letter.
The intention of attorneys was to ask the court to pertain to discovery and an evidentiary hearing in which they can provide proof, as well as vacate the brothers’ conventions and sentence. Attorneys were successful as they obtained a hearing for the petition on November 29th, 2024.
District Attorney Gasćon is now able to re-examine the case as a larger initiative on what he calls “over-incarceration.” Since 2021, he has resentenced more than 200 inmates whose cases did not take into account trauma and other mitigating factors by the court.
He has been able to do this because of California’s new penal code. It required courts to consider factors such as psychological trauma, defendants age at the time of the crime and evidence. This works to the brothers advantage because at their retrial their abuse was not fully weighed in.
“Given today’s very different understanding of how sexual and physical abuse impacts children— both boys and girls—and the remarkable new evidence, we think resentencing is the appropriate result,” Menendez Attorney Cilf Gardner wrote to the Associated Press.
At this point in time there are multiple outcomes of what could happen to the brothers after their hearing in November. The brothers could have their life sentences vacated, and be released immediately. They could also be resentenced with the possibility of parole or given a release date, and they could also be given an entirely new trial with the new evidence admitted into court.
