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Kim Kardashian Is Now Advocating for Menéndez Brothers: "Erik and Lyle Had No Chance"
The reality TV star called for the men's release the same day prosecutors announced a new hearing for Lyle and Erik Menéndez, who are serving life sentences for their parents' 1989 murders.
Celebrity and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian is using her platform in a big way, continuing her criminal justice reform advocacy in a call to release the imprisoned Menéndez brothers.
The media star penned an exclusive personal essay for NBC News, detailing the two trials of Lyle and Erik Menéndez, the young men charged and convicted of “viciously” murdering their parents in the summer of 1989. Kardashian’s article, published Thursday, October 3, 2024, came the same day Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced a hearing to review possible new evidence and whether the siblings’ final trial heard enough testimony concerning alleged physical and sexual abuse by their father, José Menéndez.
“There were virtually no systems in place to support survivors, and public awareness of the trauma of male sexual abuse was minimal, often clouded by preconceived judgments and homophobia,” Kardashian wrote. “Can anyone honestly deny that the justice system would have treated the Menendez sisters more leniently?”
Kim Kardashian's Public Appeal for Lyle and Erik Menéndez
Kardashian, the daughter of the late attorney Robert Kardashian (part of O.J. Simpson’s dream team defense), said she met with both men in person. Lyle and Erik, who were 18 and 21 when they shot José and Kitty Menéndez to death in their Beverly Hills mansion, are now in their 50s.
The mother of four said there were two dozen of Lyle and Erik’s relatives, “including their parents’ siblings,” who’d strongly voiced their support to have the men released.
“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,” Kardashian said in the lengthy statement. “I don’t believe that spending their entire natural lives incarcerated was the right punishment for this complex case. Had this crime been committed and trialed today, I believe the outcome would have been dramatically different.”
Changing cultural attitudes have helped the case stay close to the spotlight, even decades after the immensely high-profile trials. According to Kardashian, the brothers believed that killing their mother and father was “an unimaginable way to escape their living nightmare,” which allegedly included years of rape at the hands of José Menéndez.
Earlier this year, Menudo singer Roy Rosselló also accused José Menéndez of raping him when he was just 14, as featured in the original series Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, now available to watch on Peacock.
The Trials of the Menéndez Brothers
The brothers were initially tried separately in 1993, something of a spectacle as proceedings were recorded for the public to see. Despite maintaining that they endured years of abuse and feared their father would kill them for exposing their dark family secret, juries were deadlocked, something Kardashian said was “widely seen as a blow to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.”
A second, less publicized trial, in which the brothers were tried together, saw both men convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. However, unlike the earlier trials, evidence about José Menéndez’s alleged abuse was severely omitted in the courtroom.
Kardashian, who recently met the men in prison, said publicity stemming from the separate trials had tarnished the case by then.
RELATED: Everything To Know About Erik And Lyle Menendez's Father Jose, Accused Of Sexual Abuse
“The first trial was televised for all to see, and Erik and Lyle’s case became entertainment for the nation, their suffering and stories of abuse ridiculed in skits on Saturday Night Live,” she wrote. “The media turned the brothers into monsters and sensationalized eye candy — two arrogant, rich kids from Beverly Hills who killed their parents out of greed. There was no room for empathy, let alone sympathy.”
She added, “Erik and Lyle had no chance of a fair trial against this backdrop.”
More attention has been brought to the case in recent weeks since the scripted series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story's premiere.
“They are not monsters,” Kardashian maintained in her essay.
D.A. Gascón Announces Review of Menendez Brothers' Case
Kardashian’s essay came less than an hour after D.A. Gascón announced plans to “reevaluate” the case, more than a year after the brothers’ defense filed a writ of habeas corpus to have their 1996 convictions vacated.
Gascón cited allegations by “one of the members of the Menudo band,” as covered in Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, as part of the motivation for the new review, as well as a letter dated 1988 — months before the killings — in which Erik Menéndez allegedly wrote a cousin and detailed José Menéndez’s alleged abuse.
Kardashian emphasized the double homicide was “not excusable” but hoped the men’s life sentences could be “reconsidered” by prosecutors.
In the ’90s, defense attorneys fought to have the men convicted on lesser charges of manslaughter. If found eligible for a new trial, they could essentially be convicted as such and resentenced. Gascón said they could also “walk out,” given their time in prison.
“We owe it to those little boys who lost their childhoods, who never had a chance to be heard, helped, or saved,” Kardashian concluded.
The Menéndez brothers are only the latest of Kardashian’s focus as the TV star and businesswoman continues advocating for those she believes are wrongfully convicted. Others she has helped within the justice system include Alice Marie Johnson, David Sheppard, and Momolu Stewart, to name just a few. More of Kardashian’s law-related efforts were featured in Oxygen’s Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project.
A hearing for Lyle and Erik Menéndez is scheduled for November 29, 2024.
Learn more by watching Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, available to stream on Peacock.
