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Menendez Brothers: 5 Things to Know About Lyle and Erik Amid Hearings

Menendez Brothers: 5 Things to Know About Lyle and Erik Amid Hearings




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Lyle and Erik Menendez were serving existence sentences for the brutal murders in their oldsters on August 20, 1989, when the brothers—then 21 and 18—shot and killed José and Kitty Menendez within their Beverly Hills mansion.

More than 3 a long time later, the Menendez brothers were given again within the highlight as the point of interest of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. The 10-episode collection reexamines the central query on the center in their case: had been they cold-blooded killers motivated via greed, as prosecutors claimed, or sufferers of years of bodily, emotional, and sexual abuse, because the protection argued—and because the brothers nonetheless take care of?

On May 13, 2025, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic resentenced Lyle and Erik to 50 years to existence, making them eligible for parole after serving greater than 35 years. Their parole listening to is scheduled for June 13, 2025.

With parole now at the desk, right here’s what to grasp concerning the Menendez brothers and their notorious 1993 conviction.

Lyle and Erik Menendez Had Promising Futures

At the time in their oldsters’ murders on Aug. 20, 1989, Lyle was once a pupil at Princeton, and Erik was once an incoming freshman at UCLA. The brothers had grown up in Beverly Hills, taking part in a privileged existence due to their rich oldsters—Jose, a Hollywood government, and Mary Louise “Kitty,” a former attractiveness queen.

Lyle and Erik Menendez
Lyle and Erik Menendez are noticed in court docket following their 1990 arrest for killing their oldsters. Photo credit score: Shutterstock

Lyle and Erik Were Arrested Seven Months After Their Parents’ Murders

After Jose and Kitty had been discovered brutally shot to loss of life of their Beverly Hills mansion, Lyle and Erik spent cash recklessly, burning via an estimated $700,000 in their oldsters’ wealth on vehicles, jewellery, or even buying eating places and cafes. But their eventual downfall happened when Erik confessed to his psychiatrist, Jerome Oziel, who then shared the ideas along with his mistress, Judalon Smyth. Smyth knowledgeable the police, revealing that Erik had confessed to the murders in treatment and that there have been audiotaped recordings of the confession. The brothers had been therefore arrested in March 1990, sparking a multi-year felony combat over the admissibility of Oziel’s recordings.

“I never thought I believed in evil, but when I heard those boys speak, I did,” Smyth informed investigative journalist Dominic Dunne in 1990.

Lyle and Erik Were Convicted of First-Degree Murder

The brothers claimed at trial that their father—who was once just about decapitated via a point-blank blast from a 12-gauge shotgun—was once a violent pedophile. These allegations had been subsidized via testimony from two of the brothers’ cousins, Andy Cano and Diane Vander Molen, who stated Lyle and Erik had confided in them concerning the sexual abuse once they had been youngsters. As for his or her mom—who was once shot 14 instances—the brothers stated she was once an alcoholic who enabled and inspired her husband’s abuse.

Their first trial, which started in 1993, resulted in a deadlocked jury. In the second one trial, the pass judgement on restricted testimony concerning the alleged abuse and barred the jury from bearing in mind manslaughter fees as an alternative of homicide. Both brothers had been convicted on two counts of first-degree homicide and sentenced to existence in jail with out the opportunity of parole.

“Erik and Lyle Menendez have been incarcerated for 34 years and six months, and I believe that they are in prison for killing their lifelong abusers,” stated Robert Rand, who has spent really extensive time with the brothers for the reason that crime and is the creator of The Menendez Murders: The Shocking Untold Story of the Menendez Family and the Killings that Stunned the Nation.

“The correct verdict for the Menendez brothers’ trial should have been manslaughter, not murder.”

Lyle and Erik Menendez
Lyle and Erik Menendez are noticed in court docket all over their trial in 1993. Photo credit score: Shutterstock.

Lyle and Erik Both Married While in Prison

Despite their brutal crime and existence in the back of bars, there was once no scarcity of girls within the Menendez brothers. Lyle married Anna Eriksson on July 2, 1996, however they divorced on April 1, 2001, after she came upon he was once “cheating” on her with some other girl via a pen buddy dating (as conjugal visits don’t seem to be allowed). In November 2003, Lyle married Rebecca Sneed, a former mag editor became lawyer. They were in touch for just about a decade ahead of marrying in a rite at Mule Creek State Prison. Despite their separation introduced in November 2024, Sneed continues to enhance Lyle and advocates for his and Erik’s unencumber.

Erik additionally discovered love, marrying Tammi Ruth Saccoman on June 12, 1999, at Folsom State Prison.

Lyle and Erik Menendez Have Amassed a Huge TikTok Following

Nearly 35 years after murdering their oldsters, a vital selection of teenagers are calling the brothers’ sentence unfair and unjust. The account menendezsupporterrr—which calls for “Justice for the Menendez brothers”—has over 12.9M likes and 258.1K fans. Another account, ..menendezbrothers, states in its bio, “They are victims. don’t sexualize them,” and has 109.1K fans and 9.6M likes.




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