After a request for parole made last week, Erik and Lyle Menendez, sentenced to life in prison for the murders of their parents in Beverly Hills in 1989, are asking to be pardoned.
Forgotten for thirty-five years and brought back into the spotlight thanks to a very popular Netflix mini-series, the two Menendez brothers who shocked America with the murder of their parents intend to remain at the forefront of the media scene. Building on the success of Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez which relates how their trial and the way in which they had at the time explained their actions by rapes suffered for years by their father, the brothers are now asking to be pardoned.
The request was made to the governor of California, Los Angeles prosecutor George Gascon, fervent defender of Lyle and Erik Menendez, said on Wednesday October 30. “who are currently serving life sentences without the possibility of parole».
Last Thursday, the prosecutor had already asked a judge to review the Menendezes' conviction, which could make them eligible for parole. “I think that often, for cultural reasons, we don't believe victims of sexual assault, whether they're women or men,” lamented the prosecutor, also admitting that his office had received numerous requests which pushed his services to re-examine the case of the two brothers. A hearing has been set for December 11 to review the motion.
A historic trial that continues to shake the United States
The assassination in 1989 of José and Mary Louise Menendez by their children, Lyle and Erik, in their posh Beverly Hills home was the subject of a real media frenzy in the United States. For the first time across the Atlantic, a trial was broadcast daily on television. The United States had not yet experienced the trial of American footballer OJ Simpson which has since become established, with its cameras in the courtroom, as the “trial of the century”.
Accused of having murdered their parents for money – $14 million – Lyle and Erik Menendez, aged 21 and 18 at the time of the facts, were not convicted at first instance: the jury had failed to reach the unanimity necessary to render a verdict. In 1996, a second trial resulted in their conviction to irreducible life imprisonment, for premeditated murder, after the judge refused to examine numerous elements relating to the accusations of sexual violence.
In addition to the mini-series inspired by true events Monsters: the story of Lyle and Erik Menendez, Netflix also broadcast a documentary on the case, sparking online mobilization for the release of the brothers in a world where the #MeToo movement has changed the perception of the words of victims of sexual assault. Stars like Kim Kardashian have publicly intervened to support them.
