Menendez Brothers Murder Case: The True Crime Behind the Controversial Netflix Drama | Ents & Arts News

It was the trial that shocked America, now, 30 years later, the true story of two brothers who killed their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion is making headlines again.

Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted on August 20, 1989, of shooting their father and mother, Jose and Kitty Menendez, multiple times at close range. They were 21 and 18 years old at the time.

A Netflix The dramatization of her story, which has accused Erik Menendez of “dishonesty,” is currently underway Number one in the streamer's audience list.

The same platform will release a documentary next month.

So what was the Menendez brothers' crime and why are people so fascinated by it?

The crime, the trial and the punishment

On August 20, 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez shot their parents, Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez, multiple times at close range at the family mansion in Beverly Hills. California.

While the brothers initially told police they found her dead when they got home, they were eventually charged with murder.

An initial attempt to try each brother individually before separate juries ended in a mistrial after both jurors failed to reach a verdict.

At a second trial, the brothers were tried together.

The defense claimed the brothers committed the murders in self-defense after years of alleged physical, emotional and sexual abuse by their father without their mother offering them protection.

They said they feared for their lives after threatening to expose their father.

Prosecutors argued the murders were motivated by greed and that they killed their parents to avoid disinheritance.

Evidence of alleged abuse from her defense case was largely excluded from the joint trial by the judge.

In 1996, seven years after the murders, a jury found the brothers guilty and they were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

They were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Erik and Lyle Menendez, now 53 and 56 years old respectively, are currently in prison in San Diego, California.

To this day, both brothers say their actions stemmed from the abuse they suffered at the hands of their parents over many years.

The Netflix drama

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story stars Oscar winner Javier Bardem as Jose, Chloë Sevigny as Kitty, and Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez as the Menendez brothers.

An attempt is made to shed light on the crime from different perspectives – both from the perspective of the brothers and from the perspective of the parents.

Many viewers have commented on the graphic and violent nature of the show, which is both bloody and gruesome.

Viewers also criticized the implications that the brothers had an intimate relationship.

Bardem, who plays father Jose Menendez, said he was able to separate art from his personal life while working on the show.

“I’m a big believer in fiction, in imagination, in the joy of playing something without being consumed by it,” he said.

Cooper Koch, who plays Erik, said he used footage of the real trial to support his performance.

“I just read everything I could. I looked at the entire process. I slept while this process was going on. So I went to sleep and heard Erik (Menendez) and Leslie (Hope Abramson – the lawyer who defended the brothers) on the stand.”

What does Erik Menendez say?

The day after the show appeared on Netflix, one of the real brothers, Erik Menendez, criticized the show, calling it “dishonest” and “inaccurate” and criticizing what he called “blatant lies” in his characterization of his older brother Lyle.

In a statement, Erik's wife Tammi pointed out that this was done on purpose.”

He accused the show's creator, Ryan Murphy, of “bad intent” and said the show had set victims of male sexual assault back many years.

He also asked, “Isn’t the truth enough?” and thanked people for their support.

How did Ryan Murphy react?

Murphy, who directed the first season of “Monster” about US serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, responded to the comments, saying Erik hadn't actually watched the series and it was his duty as the show's creator to present both sides of the story.

Murphy told Entertainment Tonight: “When it's your life, it's really hard to see your life on screen…

“There were four people involved, two people are dead, what about the parents? As storytellers, we had a duty to include their perspective based on our research, which we did.”

Murphy was also the showrunner of Glee, Pose, The Watcher, Feud, American Horror Story, Hollywood and Ratched.

It is not the first dramatization of the crime, which has already been made into three television films and inspired an episode of the US police procedural “Law And Order”.

The Netflix documentary

Immediately following the Netflix drama, the streamer launched a non-fiction film – but this seems to have the approval of the Menendez brothers.

Directed by Argentine filmmaker Alejandro Hartmann, the documentary “The Menendez Brothers” will stream on Netflix from October 7th.

The project promises to provide “new insights and a new perspective on a case that people only think they know.”

It will include extensive audio interviews with Lyle and Erik Menendez, attorneys involved in the trial, journalists who covered it, jurors, family members and other informed observers.

A new development

In 2023, a documentary titled “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed” aired on Peacock featured claims from former Puerto Rican boy band member Roy Rossello, who claimed the brothers' father sexually assaulted him when he was a teenager.

Jose was a former executive at RCA Records.

Shortly after the premiere of this documentary, attorneys for Lyle and Erik Menendez filed a motion requesting a new trial in light of the new evidence.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office told Sky News' US partner NBC News that they are investigating the allegations and will receive a response by September 26.

The brothers' defense team also says they discovered a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin that was dated months before the murders. In it he spoke of abuse by his father and the fear of him.

The defense team says this should warrant a new trial because it involved information that was not available to them when the case was first presented to a jury.