Kim Kardashian called for Lyle and Erik Menendez, who in 1996 were convicted of killing parents Kitty and Jose Menendez, to have their life sentences “reconsidered” in a personal essay she wrote for NBC News.
Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder after two trials. They were sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, according to the Associated Press.
Their case has been the subject of renewed discussion in the wake of Season Two of Ryan Murphy’s “Monster” anthology, titled, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” which dropped on Netflix Sept. 19.
While the series was slammed by Erik Menendez as “awful lies” and a “horrible narrative,” per a statement shared to X by his wife, Tammi, Murphy defended the show as “the best thing that has happened to the Menendez brothers in 30 years,” in an interview with People.
“A lot of people think that they were dealt a bad hand in that second trial, a lot of people think they should get a new trial, and I think having those conversations are good,” Murphy said. “So, if we’re doing anything that can further a conversation about abuse and also ask the question is, ‘was that second trial fair?’ then I did my job.”
The essay by Kardashian, who visited the brothers in prison in September with “Monsters” star Cooper Koch, suggests she is joining that conversation.
“I have spent time with Lyle and Erik; they are not monsters,” Kardashian wrote in the essay published Oct. 3. “They are kind, intelligent, and honest men.”
She said after her visit, a warden told her “he would feel comfortable having them as neighbors.”
She also recounted learning about their experience at trial. The brothers’ first trial ended in 1994 with hung juries. The defense alleged that Jose Menendez abused his children, while the prosecution argued Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents for financial gain.
In the second trial, evidence and testimony regarding the allegations of abuse were deemed inadmissible, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“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,'” Kardashian wrote in her essay. “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.
“Erik and Lyle had no chance of a fair trial against this backdrop,” she added.
Kardashian, who previously shared plansto become a lawyer, has worked with and advocated for inmates, including Alice Marie Johnson, who was sentenced to life in prison for a non-violent drug charge. After Kardashian met with then-President Donald Trump, Johnson was granted clemency.
In her essay, Kardashian argues “Erik and Lyle were condemned before the trial even began.”
While the killings of Jose and Kitty Menendez are “not excusable,” Kardashian wrote, “I don’t believe that spending their entire natural lives incarcerated was the right punishment for this complex case.”
“With their case back in the spotlight — and considering the revelation of a 1988 letter from Erik to his cousin describing the abuse — my hope is that Erik and Lyle Menendez’s life sentences are reconsidered,” she wrote in conclusion. “We owe it to those little boys who lost their childhoods, who never had a chance to be heard, helped or saved.”
