The story of the Menendez brothers, sentenced in 1996 to life imprisonment for the murder of their parents, is at the heart of a successful Netflix series.
On November 29, the Los Angeles prosecutor could announce that he is in favor of holding a new trial.
On Wednesday, around thirty of their relatives, including their aunt, held a press conference to demand their release.
Will the Menendez brothers get out of prison thanks to the Netflix series dedicated to them? Since it was put online on September 16, this fiction created by successful screenwriter Ryan Murphy has fascinated the new generation and revived a debate which unleashed passions at the time of the events. If you missed the beginning, Lyle and Erik Menendez were sentenced on July 2, 1996 to life sentences following their second trial, convicted of shooting their parents to death on August 20, 1989 while They were aged 21 and 18.
While justice put forward a financial motive, the two boys will explain at the bar that they acted in reaction to the sexual abuse of which they were victims at the hands of their father, a rich Cuban immigrant, with the complicity of their mother, Kitty. Gathered in the same penitentiary near San Diego since 2018, they have almost despite themselves become the spokespersons for victims of incest. All their requests for early release have been refused so far. But the success of the Netflix series could change everything.
I don’t think they deserve to be in prison until they die.
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon
After announcing at the beginning of October the examination of new evidence confirming the violence of which the Menendez brothers were allegedly victims, the Los Angeles prosecutor, George Gascon, speaks this Thursday, October 17 in a new issue of the show “IMPACT x Nightline ” on the ABC channel. “Considering the totality of the circumstances, I don’t think they deserve to be in prison until they die.“, he declares in an extract revealed by People .
“I’m not leaning in any direction. My teams work on the file very carefully, experienced lawyers study it. Their conclusions will be presented to me, but the final decision will be up to me“, he insists. George Gascon will reveal it on November 29 during a highly anticipated hearing. If he decides in favor of a third trial, his recommendation will still have to be approved by a judge.
Lyle and Erik have already paid the price, rejected by a system that failed to recognize their pain.
Their aunt Joan VanderMolen
This Wednesday, around thirty of their relatives spoke in favor of the Menendezes at a press conference in Los Angeles. “As the details of Lyle and Erik’s abuse were revealed, it became clear that their act, while tragic, was the desperate response of two boys trying to survive their father’s unspeakable cruelty.“said their aunt Joan VanderMolen, 92 years old, Kitty Menendez’s sister.”Lyle and Erik have already paid the price, rejected by a system that failed to recognize their pain“.
-
Read also
Who are Erik and Lyle Menendez, the murderous brothers who inspired the new Netflix series?
In their fight, the Menendez brothers, now aged 56 and 53, have already received the support of several celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, who came to visit them in prison with Cooper Koch, who plays Erik in the series. “They committed their crime at the ages of 18 and 21, and at the time it was really hard for people to believe that there could be male-on-male sexual abuse, especially from a male. father on his son“, explained the latter in an interview with Variety. “The idea that they did it for money is just crazy.”
