Kim Kardashian desires Lyle and Erik Menendez, the brothers convicted within the grisly 1989 murders of their dad and mom, to be freed.
The truth star, daughter of late O.J. Simpson lawyer Robert Kardashian, has original herself as an advocate for felony justice reform. And, in a private essay for NBC Information, she wrote Thursday that she hopes that the brothers, who’ve already served 35 years in jail, may have their life sentences “reconsidered.”
“We are all products of our experiences. They shape who we were, who we are, and who we will be. Physiologically and psychologically, time changes us, and I doubt anyone would claim to be the same person they were at 18. I know I’m not!,” the Skims co-founder wrote.
Kardashian rehashed broadly recognized info within the case — that the brothers, then ages 21 and 18, shot and killed their dad and mom, Jose and Kitty Menendez, of their Beverly Hills dwelling — in addition to their high-profile 1996 trials. However, she mentioned, “this story is much more complex than it appears on the surface.”
“Both brothers said they had been sexually, physically and emotionally abused for years by their parents. According to Lyle, the abuse started when he was just 6 years old, and Erik said he was raped by his father for more than a decade. Following years of abuse and a real fear for their lives, Erik and Lyle chose what they thought at the time was their only way out — an unimaginable way to escape their living nightmare,” she mentioned.
Erik Menendez, left, and is brother Lyle, in entrance of their Beverly Hills dwelling.
(Ronald Soble / Los Angeles Instances)
Itemizing points with the trials and different authorized missteps, Kardashian argued that “the media turned the brothers into monsters and sensationalized eye candy” and that they “had no chance of a fair trial against this backdrop.”
The sweetness mogul has visited the brothers in jail and vouched for his or her “exemplary disciplinary records,” including {that a} warden there instructed her that “he would feel comfortable having them as neighbors.” She asserted that life in jail will not be the suitable punishment for them and argued that the exclusion of abuse proof from their second trial denied them a good go.
“The killings are not excusable. I want to make that clear. Nor is their behavior before, during or after the crime. But we should not deny who they are today in their 50s,” she wrote. “The trial and punishment these brothers received were more befitting a serial killer than two individuals who endured years of sexual abuse by the very people they loved and trusted.”
On Thursday, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón mentioned his workplace would assessment what he described as new proof that the brothers had been molested — a transfer that might result in revised sentences.
Whereas there was no query the brothers dedicated the murders, Gascón mentioned, the problem is whether or not the jury heard proof that their father molested them. Proof detailing sexual abuse was introduced in the course of the brothers’ first trial, which led to hung juries, however was largely withheld throughout their second trial, the place they had been convicted and sentenced to life in jail.
Lyle Menendez, left, and Erik throughout a courtroom look in Beverly Hills on April 2, 1991.
(Kevork Djansenzian / Related Press)
In the meantime, a sequence of artistic tasks over the previous 12 months have contributed to renewed curiosity within the brothers’ case and their extremely scrutinized trials. Ryan Murphy’s splashy “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” for instance, raised questions, very like his previous anthology sequence revived the discourse across the O.J. Simpson trial and the impeachment of former President Clinton. The Menendez brothers had been additionally the main target of the Fox Nation documentary sequence “Menendez Brothers: Victims or Villains,” which premiered in March, in addition to the Peacock docuseries “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed,” which introduced new proof and included an accusation of rape in opposition to patriarch Jose Menendez.
Citing proof associated to molestation claims, attorneys for the brothers filed petitions final 12 months to reopen the case, and relations have rallied to get the lads launched. Others, like Kardashian, have argued that instances have modified, and that the brothers’ allegations of abuse may need been obtained in another way at trial at this time.
Instances workers authors Salvador Hernandez, Hannah Fry and Richard Winton contributed to this report.
