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Erik and Lyle Menendez Have Differing Views on New Hearing: “Hope Can Be Tortuous”
"I do worry, and I think it’s important, that the seriousness of my crime not be minimized or diminished," Erik Menendez said of the social media posts discussing his and his brother's convictions.
The Menendez brothers are speaking out from behind bars following a resurgence in the movement of people wanting to see them free.
Lyle and Erik Menendez, now 56 and 53, say they’re cautiously optimistic about being released from prison following the most recent — and final — appeal to vacate their conviction, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Hail Mary effort, which could prove explosive if prosecutors sided with the defense, came in May 2023, the same month as the release of the Peacock special Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.
The brothers have continued to speak out since they filed a writ of habeas corpus last year. Most recently, Erik and Lyle Menendez took part in the October 2024 documentary The Menendez Brothers, accompanied by a three-part podcast with the doc’s director, Alejandro Hartmann. As detailed by The Hollywood Reporter, the audio series, titled Introducing The Menendez Brothers, features short calls from the incarcerated men, currently serving life in prison for the 1989 shooting deaths of their parents, Kitty and José Menendez.
“There’s a saying that hope is a good thing, but hope can be torturous,” Erik Menendez told the podcast. "And it has been torturous in my life.”
Lyle and Erik Menendez on Social Media Support
Lyle and Erik, who were 18 and 21 when they fatally shot their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion, respectively, spoke to Hartmann about the TikTok movement that breathed new life into their case, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“I really appreciate the support of the people that have written me and are supporting me — by supporting me, [people who] believe that I shouldn’t spend the rest of my life in prison,” Erik Menendez said. “I’ve heard about a lot of the videos, I’m sure there are very serious TikTok videos, but then I also know there are ones that are not. I only get to see what’s on TV and the stories about them. I do worry, and I think it’s important, that the seriousness of my crime not be minimized or diminished.”
He continued, “This tragedy has been deep, and every member of my family has been impacted.”
The brothers' convictions made the rounds on the popular social media app during COVID-19, introducing a new generation to a case that rocked America in the early- to mid-’90s.
Lyle Menendez said the new TikTok generation was filled with “tremendous hope.”
Why is there new interest in the Menendez case?
Massive interest in the case comes with shifting attitudes over how society views crime, especially when committed by alleged abuse victims. Both men became internationally known during their first 1993 trial, in which they had separate juries.
The courts heard testimony that José Menendez sexually and physically abused his sons throughout their lives, though both juries were hung.
A second, less-publicized trial in 1996 severely restricted allegations of abuse, and the men were found guilty of first-degree murder.
There is no question as to whether Lyle and Erik killed their parents. However, the debate is over whether they should have instead been convicted of manslaughter charges and received a lighter sentence than life in prison, something TV celeb and criminal justice reform advocate Kim Kardashian recently appealed in an op-ed in NBC News.
Erik Menendez, while accepting responsibility for the double homicide, warned Hartmann that much of the interest featured on TikTok “gets lost in translation,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“I think that it is important that we remember that two people are no longer alive and families have been devastated by this tragedy and that I am at the center of it. I am the one responsible,” Erik Menendez reiterated. “I don’t want that to be diminished or minimized in any way by people that support me and believe in me.”
New Evidence Subject of Menendez Brothers Hearing
Prosecutors are reviewing (at least) two critical pieces of possible evidence that came to their attention in the appeal filed the same month as the release of Menendez + Menudo: Brothers Betrayed.
On Oct. 3, 2024, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced plans to “reevaluate” the case, citing that “a greater level of sensitivity” would have been applied if the brothers were tried today, as previously reported by Oxygen.com.
One significant factor — which served as the exclusive focus in the three-part Peacock series — consists of the allegations by Menudo boy band entertainer Roy Rosselló, who claimed that José Menendez, a music exec, drugged and raped Rosselló when Rosselló was just 13.
According to Gascón, they were also looking at a letter Erik Menendez allegedly penned in 1988 — months before the murders — when he told a cousin about his father’s sexual abuse.
Both Lyle and Erik have long maintained that they killed their parents out of an abundance of fear, claiming the father threatened to kill them if they spoke about the alleged abuse.
The Menendez Brothers Are Cautiously Optimistic About Possible Release
In light of the recent publicity, Lyle Menendez told the Introducing The Menendez Brothers podcast they were “lifted by collective hope,” per The Hollywood Reporter.
“I’m not as hopeless as I was as a 21-year-old, that’s for sure,” said the older brother. “Obviously, I feel more hope when society seems to be understanding these experiences and sex abuse better. So, I do have hope, and I also see a lot of people paroling who have life sentences, and still going home and paroling because they’ve rehabilitated, and I certainly feel like my brother and I have rehabilitated.”
Erik Menendez, however, said he was “leery” of becoming too optimistic over what’s to come, citing “so many disappointments” concerning appeals and the evolvement of societal viewpoints on child abuse victims. So far, he told Hartmann, nothing has been enough to overturn their convictions.
“So, while I am hopeful and pray, I am worried about getting my hopes up about any appeal,” he admitted. “Every time I get hopeful, the letdown is even more intense and profound, and personal.”
Both brothers are scheduled for their hearing on November 29, 2024.
Learn more about the case in Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, now available to stream on Peacock.
