In 1996, the Menendez brothers — Erik and Lyle were convicted on first-degree murder charges for their brutal murders of parents Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez in their Beverly Hills home in August 1989. The crime and the brothers’ assertion that they had been abused gained national media attention, casting doubt on their version of events. Delving into the grey areas of parent/child relationships and trauma, the controversial outcome of which so divided public opinion over questions of justice and mental health.
On August 20th, 1989, the brothers called the police officers sounding petrified claiming that the two brothers were out and about their day when they came home to find Jose and Kitty brutally murdered. In the police call they said that they think that the “mafia” did it due to their father being a highly well-known and wealthy businessperson. Nobody thought the two “innocent” brothers could have done such a thing to their parents until October 31st, 1989. On this date Erik had a panic attack and needed someone to talk to. (His therapist) While talking to his therapist he ended up confessing to the murders. After Dr.Oziel found out this information he wrongly shared the information with another client of his who happened to be his mistress (Judalon Smyth). The two (Dr.Oziel and Judalon) agreed to keep it between them as long as Dr.Oziel promised to divorce his wife and marry Judalon. Judalon later found out that Oziel would continue to keep seeing his wife and ended up going to the police and reporting all the information that she had known. The police later raided Oziel’s home and found many recordings of both brothers. This is how they both got, and this is how it led to the 2 trials.
Recently the case has been brought back to relevance due to the new Netflix true- crime drama series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” Most recently a new piece of evidence has been found from Erik Menendez. The piece of evidence was a letter that he had written to his cousin 8 months before the murder took place stating how both Erik and Lyle were scared for their lives fearing what both Jose and Kitty might do to them. It was unveiled that the brothers experienced significant abuse at the hands of their parents. The brothers were abused in ways such as in ways like physical, mental, and sexual abuse. This was significant to the case being re-opened due to the fact that this generation has more sympathy for boys/men who have been abused in any sort. Oct 16th, 2024, the family of the brothers had a press conference at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in LA. The brothers are also scheduled to have a third hearing November 13th, 2024, for re-sentencing.