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    • A timeline of the Menendez brothers murder case and the push to re-examine it
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    A timeline of the Menendez brothers murder case and the push to re-examine it

    Vaseline Posted on



    CNN
    —

    The question for prosecutors re-examining the murder convictions of Lyle and Erik Menendez is not whether they killed their parents, but how guilty they really are.

    “There is no doubt that they committed the murder,” Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Saturday. “The question is: to what degree of culpability should they be held responsible, given the totality of the circumstances?”

    The reexamination of the case comes more than 35 years after the fatal shooting of Jose and Kitty Menendez in their Beverly Hills home, which led to a high-profile prosecution of their sons Lyle and Erik, then 21 and 18 years old. The brothers were eventually convicted of the murders and admitted to the act, but they claim they did so in self-defense after enduring years of abuse from their father.

    The case has attracted new interest in the wake of a docuseries and Netflix drama, as well as growing understanding and empathy for victims of sexual abuse. Prosecutors have said they are reconsidering the brothers’ life sentence without parole.

    Here’s a look at the case’s timeline through the decades, from the first shooting to the recent attempts to commute their sentences.

    The murders and trials

    Erik Menendez, left, and his brother Lyle listen during a pre-trial hearing on December 29, 1992.

    August 1989: Jose Menendez, an executive at RCA Records, and his wife, Kitty Menendez, are shot dead by gunfire in their Beverly Hills mansion. Lyle called 911 and said, “Someone killed my parents.”

    March 1990: Lyle is arrested by the police and Erik turns himself in days later after they confess to their therapist. They are charged with first-degree murder.

    July 1993: The Menendez brothers are tried in a Los Angeles courtroom, each with a separate jury, in a trial televised on Court TV. Prosecutors argued that they killed their parents for financial gain. The brothers’ defense admitted they killed their parents but argued they acted in self-defense after years of emotional, psychological and sexual abuse at the hands of their father.

    January 1994: Both juries are deadlocked and unable to reach a verdict.

    October 1995: A new trial of the brothers begins, with one jury. This time, much of the defense evidence about sexual abuse will be excluded, attorneys said.

    March 1996: The jury convicts both brothers of first-degree murder.

    July 1996: The brothers are sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    <p>Renewed public interest has prosecutors in Los Angeles reviewing new evidence in the Menendez brothers’ murder convictions.</p> <p>” class=”image__dam-img image__dam-img–loading” onload=”this.classList.remove(‘image__dam-img–loading’)” onerror=”imageLoadError(this)” height=”1080″ width=”1920 “/></picture> </div> </div></div> </p></div> </div> <div class=

    Prosecutors review new evidence in Menendez murder case

    May 2023: In the Peacock docuseries “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed,” a former member of the boy band Menudo said in an affidavit that he was raped by Jose Menendez when he was about 14.

    Lawyers for the Menendez brothers file a habeas petition asking the court to reconsider the conviction and sentence in light of new evidence from the Menudo band member and of a letter Erik wrote about the abuse leading up to the murders. The attorneys are asking the court to either overturn the brothers’ conviction and sentence or allow discovery and an evidentiary hearing at which they can present evidence, the document said.

    The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office says it is reviewing the petition.

    September 2024: Netflix releases the crime drama “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” a nine-episode series co-created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan about the murders.

    “(The show) is actually more interested in talking about how monsters are made than born,” Murphy said during a panel during an early screening of the show’s first episode, according to Netflix. “We try not to be too judgmental about that because we try to understand why they did something, as opposed to the act of doing something.”

    In a statement shared by his wife on social media, Erik Menendez criticized the show’s “horrible and blatant lies” and said the show takes the truth back to “an era where the accuser built a narrative based on a belief system that men were not were sexually abused. , and that men experienced rape trauma differently than women,” he writes.

    “These terrible lies have been disrupted and exposed over the past twenty years by countless courageous victims who have broken through their personal shame and courageously spoken out. So now Murphy shapes his terrible story through vile and disgusting character portraits of Lyle and me and disheartening slander,” he writes.

    October 5, 2024: Gascón, the LA County district attorney, tells CNN’s Jim Acosta that he was “increasingly concerned that it was critical that we review the new evidence” presented by the defense.

    He noted that times have changed in how the public and the courts treat victims of sexual abuse.

    “There is no doubt that our sensitivity to sexual violence is much more important today,” he said. “(It) is clearly established that both men and women can be sexually abused, or boys and girls. I think cultural norms were a little different 35 years ago. … There is no doubt that a jury today would probably look at this case very differently than a jury would 35 years ago.”

    He also notes that the shows and films about the case have had an impact.

    “But honestly, we probably wouldn’t talk about the documentary at this point,” he said. “Maybe we’ll talk later, but that has certainly increased the public’s attention, and that’s why we’re being public about where we stand.”

    A hearing on the Menendez brothers’ petition is scheduled for Nov. 29.

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