Erik and Lyle Menéndez‘s murder case was thrust back into the spotlight with Ryan Murphy‘s Monsters — but is there a chance their life without parole sentence could be overturned?
The Menéndez brothers’ parents, José and Kitty Menéndez, were found dead at their Beverly Hills home in 1989. After Lyle called the police, they discovered José was shot six times and Kitty was shot 10 times. Lyle and Erik weren’t initially persons of interest but were arrested one year later after their therapist recorded sessions where they confessed to the murders.
During their high-profile trial, the brothers accused their parents, José and Kitty, of alleged physical, emotional and sexual abuse Erik and Lyle were found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole in 1996.
Episodes of Law & Order, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and The Sopranos mentioned the case in the ’90s. The Menéndez brothers were also referenced several times on the FX drama The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story in 2016, which Murphy executive produced. (In addition to Monsters, Murphy is also involved with the American Story franchise.)
On the 35th anniversary of José and Kitty’s deaths, NBC released an eight-episode special in 2017 titled Law & Order: True Crime — The Menéndez Murders. Murphy took on the case for season 2 of Monsters, which starred Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch as Lyle and Erik, respectively. After the limited series made headlines, the support for the Menéndez brothers resurfaced amid their ongoing attempts to appeal their sentence.
Keep scrolling for a breakdown of their appeal efforts over the years:
What Was Erik and Lyle’s Original Sentence?
Lyle and Erik were arrested in 1990 on two counts of first-degree murder each. Three years later, the brothers were tried separately as they alleged that years of physical, emotional and sexual abuse caused them to shoot their mother and father.
The case ended in a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision. A retrial began in 1995, but most of the evidence surrounding the abuse couldn’t be used as a defense. Erik and Lyle — who were now being tried together — were ultimately found guilty of first-degree murder. Jurors deliberated between life without parole or the death sentence before choosing the former in 1996.
After initially remaining in the same prison, Erik and Lyle were transferred after their sentencing. Lyle was taken to Mule Creek State Prison while Erik moved around from Folsom State Prison to Pleasant Valley State Prison.
They reunited in 2018 when they were moved into the same housing unit at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility. That was their first reunion since they began serving their sentences nearly two decades prior.
How Many Appeal Attempts Have Taken Place?
The California Court of Appeal upheld Lyle and Erik’s murder convictions in 1998 and the Supreme Court of California declined to review the case later that same year. Both Menendez brothers filed habeas corpus petitions with the Supreme Court of California in 1999, which were denied. They filed the same petitions in the United States District Court and that was denied in 2003.
Erik and Lyle’s defense team decided to appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which resulted in another denial in 2005.
What Inspired the Most Recent Request for a Retrial?
In 2023, Peacock released a docuseries titled Menéndez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, where singer Roy Rosselló alleged he was drugged and raped when he was a teen by Erik and Lyle’s father, José. The accusations from the former Menudo band member was included in a petition filed with Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The court documents requested a retrial while citing new evidence in the case such as Rosselló’s allegations against José and a newly discovered letter Erik wrote to his cousin Andy Cano describing his father’s alleged sexual abuse months before the murders.
“Nobody had looked at [the cousin’s personal] effects until 2015, and that’s when it was found, 10 years after our last appeal,” Erik and Lyle’s post-conviction attorney Mark Geragos said in a statement to People in September 2024. “We’re saying the second trial did not comport with constitutional protections for a variety of reasons. And a Habeas [Corpus petition] has new evidence. It requires new evidence because this case had basically been moribund for close to 17 years.”
Geragos broke down the three potential outcomes of the request.
“The judge can deny it, the judge can order the DA to respond, or the judge can do what he did, which was issue an order for the DA to informally respond, which they have taken very seriously over the last 15 months because we’ve presented evidence to them,” he continued. “[We provided statements from 24 family members who] have all asked that they be resentenced, presented a number of other documents and evidence for them to take a look at and consider while making a decision.”
What Is the Current Update of the Retrial Request?
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office released a statement about how the office “is investigating the claims submitted in the petition.”
“The matter is pending the filing of an informal response, which is currently due on Sept. 26, 2024,” the district attorney’s office told People.
That same month, Netflix announced that Lyle and Erik were interviewed for The Menéndez Brothers documentary. The special, which is set to be released in October 2024, includes footage from conversations with juror Betty Oldfield, Kitty’s sister Joan Vander Molen and prosecutor Pamela Bozanich.
“Everyone asks why we killed our parents,” Lyle said in the trailer using an audio interview from prison. “Maybe now people can understand the truth.”
Erik added: “What happened that night is very well known but so much hasn’t been told. … So, we were not the ones who told the story about our lives. Two kids don’t commit this crime for money.”