In August 1989, at the ages of 21 and 18 respectively, Lyle and Erik Menendez shocked the United States by
murdering their parents, José and Kittyin their luxurious home in Beverly Hills, recalls The Sun. The motive seems sordid: to escape parental control and seize the family fortune. However, 30 years later, the brothers are talking about them again, this time in a very different context. Their story is at the center ofa campaign for judicial reviewsupported by media figures such as Kim Kardashian and thousands of young users on TikTok.
This renewed interest in the affair and the two brothers is partly explained by the discovery of new elements proving thatthey were allegedly victims of sexual abuse by their father. Serious facts which find an important echo in a context in which the freedom of victims to speak has become crucial. A decisive hearing on this issue is also planned in the coming weeks. But in the eyes of Pamela Bozanich, all this would be just one “well orchestrated lie” which would allow the brothers to avoid capital punishment.
The Menendez brothers’ defense would be a “well orchestrated lie“
Indeed, for Pamela Bozanich, the lawyer who represented the prosecution during the first trial of the Menendez brothers in 1994, there is no doubt that the two young men very intelligently prepared their defense. “They lied every step of the way, and they prepared their defense with surgical precision“, she explained. At the time, the prosecutor had perfectly understood their strategy, well before they entered the courtroom: using the defense of sexual abuse to obtain a conviction for manslaughter rather than murder.
For the lawyer, the brothers had only one goal in mind:
avoid the death penalty. Indeed, although the first trial was declared a mistrial due to a jury that could not agree on the brothers’ guilt, during the second in 1996, the jurors recommended life imprisonment without possibility of parole. The death penalty was thus completely put aside.
Between revenge and greed
At the time of the tragedy, José Menendez, authoritarian father and rich businessman, would probably have threatened his sons with disinheritance if they didn’t change their behavior. Shortly after the murder, the brothers increased their expenses, spending around 670,000 euros in just a few weeks. This spending spree was one of the central points of the prosecution, which claimed that money was the real reason for the double murdercontrary to what Erik and Lyle claimed.
Erik even went so far as to hire a tennis coach to
48,000 euros per year hoping to become a professional player. For his part, Lyle bought himself a restaurant near their old family home in New Jersey. For Pamela Bozanich, the motive for the crime is clear: “They wanted wealth without having to conform to their father’s expectations.“
From murderers, they become real icons on TikTok
As previously said, the Menendez brothers have become real icons on TikTok and we see several young users, influenced by celebrities like Kim Kardashian, campaign for their release. But for Pamela Bozanich, this evolution of the status of the two brothers is simply “disgusting” This fascination, she says, is comparable to that found in other famous criminals like Richard Ramirez, an infamous serial killer who was known to easily seduce women.
Recently, a journalist discovered a letter in which Erik mentions and complains about his father’s abuse. The document, which was added to the file, could reopen the file in the coming months. However, the former prosecutor questions the authenticity of this evidence and remains convinced that the main motive for the murders was money. “Their father wanted them to get their act together, but instead they chose the more drastic solution“, she emphasized.
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