The Menendez Brothers

The menendez brothers

"I’ve seen a lot of homicides, but nothing quite that brutal"

First Page

#0120

Beverly Hills20 August 1989

Murder in Beverly Hills

Spoiled children who kill their parents

During the night on 20 August 1989 Lyle and Erik Menendez showed up to their house and killed their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez.

The police said they had never seen such a brutal murder in their lives. Jose had received 6 shots until the fatal one shot behind the head. Kitty had been shot 10 times by Erik then the blow that led to her death was inflicted by Lyle on the cheek. The police said there were blood and brain fragments all over the den.

The process of the brothers

Two trials took place, one in 1993 and the other in 1996.

The perfect family

The secrets behind the not so perfect family.

Erik, after all the stress he had in the following months, exploded and told his psychologist that he didn’t tell the police. The psychologist’s assistant who had heard all told it to the police and then arrested the two brothers.

The perfect but not so secret murder

The police investigation

At first the brothers weren't the first suspect, in fact the police didn't even made a test on gunshot residue to them. Lyle and Erik told to the police that they were at the cinema to watch a movie and cops didn't asked more. In the following months the brothers started to spent most of their money. They bought a car, a rolex, they even bought a restaurant. All this things All these things triggered a bell in the head of the police and they realized that it was the brothers who had killed their parents.

Erik told a friend that he and his brother had committed the murder. Then the friend confessed to the police what Erik had said and they put a microphone on him to make him meet with Erik again only that the second time the boy denied everything and said he told him a joke.

During the trial, the boys told their point of view and what they said was shocking.

+ info

Trials conclusions

The jury and judge’s bad decisions

The first trial was conducted in a very bizarre way. In fact, both Erik and Lyle were tried in the same courtroom, which only led to more confusion. So it ended in nothing. But in this trial, and the following one, many relatives of the brothers had testified that they confirmed the boys' version. A cousin said that Erik had written him a letter at the age of 8 or 10 years telling him what his father was doing to him.

When the second trial ended, where practically the ones of the first were said but in this trial the two brothers faced their trials individually. Both brothers were eventually convicted on two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances for lying in wait, as well as conspiracy to murder; in the penalty phase of the trial, they were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole

The End

Represented by lead defense lawyers, Leslie Abramson (for Erik) and Jill Lansing (for Lyle), the brothers stated that they killed their parents out of fear for their lives after a lifetime of abuse at the hands of their parents, especially sexual abuse at the hands of their father, who was described as a cruel perfectionist and pedophile. Meanwhile, their mother was described as an enabling, selfish, mentally unstable alcoholic and drug addict who encouraged her husband's behavior and was also violent toward the brothers.