The infamous Menendez Brothers case has long captivated me due to the nuanced issues and the polarized discourse which surrounds it. Their initially publicly televised years-long case closed in 1996, long before many of us undergraduate students were born. However, their recent resurgence in popularity on social media platforms and films like the Netflix adaptation “Monsters” has arguably shifted the tide of public opinion since the 1990s.
The brothers have been in prison for 33 years now, still serving their lifelong sentence after brutally shooting and killing their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989 at the ages of 21 and 18. Both were sent to prison after Erik, the younger of the two, broke down and confessed to the crime in a session with his therapist.
The defense claimed that the brothers committed their crime because they feared for their lives. Their rich and powerful father, Jose Menendez — with the enablement of his wife Kitty — allegedly threatened the brothers if they tried to reveal the emotional, physical, and sexual abuse he subjected them to. On the other hand, the prosecution claimed that they only committed the crime to inherit their parents’ wealth, as supported by evidence including their splurging after their parents’ death.
Recently, new evidence has been uncovered, including a letter found in a storage unit written by Erik Menendez to his cousin outlining the claimed abuses months before the killings. Additionally, Roy Roselló, a member of the boy band Menudo, recently claimed that Jose Menendez sexually assaulted him when he was around the age of 14 while working for the music label he was signed under.
Certain questions haunt me when contemplating this case. If the initial trials had been conducted in 2024, would their verdict have been different? And how would the situation have played out?
The 1990s were plagued with stigma around male sexual abuse; the offense even made the argument that such things couldn’t happen to men, a stereotype and societal expectation still often imposed on men today. However, recent pushes for the de-stigmatization of the topic, especially among younger generations, have seemingly shifted cultural views and thus many peoples’ opinions on the case, giving it a new breath of air.
The double standards placed on the Menendez brothers become clear when compared to Gypsy Rose, who was charged with second-degree homicide for planning the murder of her mother after suffering severe abuse at her hands. She enjoyed a few moments of internet stardom when she was released, and some still follow her today on her journey through pregnancy.
Many go as far as to say that if the Menendez brothers were the Menendez sisters, they wouldn’t be in prison today.
If the L.A. County can verify the new evidence presented to them, that information would support that the killing was, in fact, an act of self-defense after years of abuse, meaning that the brothers’ sentences could be reduced or lifted entirely.
Although the brothers have submitted many appeals that have repeatedly been rejected, they now stand a chance at getting free. Both brothers are known to have good track records in prison, including by starting their reform groups to help other inmates, which adds to their chances.
All the cards are in their favor, and with the amount of time the L.A. County is taking to review and release their response to the new evidence this time around, they are likely being taken with a lot more seriousness than they were in the 1990s. A recent press conference confirms the sensitivity being used to approach this case, with the office calling it their “moral and ethical obligation” while also dancing around the influence of public opinion in the decision to possibly reconsider the sentence.
Will public pressure, societal changes, and new pieces of evidence be enough to release the brothers?
I believe that only time will truly tell, but if not now, the brothers will likely never be able to beat their lifelong sentences. The resurfacing of the case is arguably a trend on social media — one that may quickly die out and lose traction if it drags out too long. Their lawyers’ best option is to act quickly and argue for manslaughter, which spans from 10 to 30 years of sentencing, meaning that the brothers would be overdue on their release if their first-degree premeditated charge is switched to a ruling based on self-defense.
I, for one, am excitedly awaiting an update from California to see an end to this age-old debate. The next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 26, in the hope of settling this case once and for all.
