The Menendez Brothers Go Back to Court
It was Aug. 20, 1989, when this horrifying case first started. Two brothers, Lyle and Erik Menendez, two wealthy kids, had murder their parents. Everyone was shocked - they hadn’t seen anything like this before, especially in Beverly Hills, California. It was on Halloween night, 1989, where Erik Menendez confessed to the murder of his parents to Dr. Jerome Oziel, roughly three months after the crime took place. Dr. Oziel was the brothers’ therapist after their series of robbing other wealthy people’s homes. During the brothers’ confession, Dr. Oziel recorded them on tape, just in case something bad would happen to him, which the police later found.
On March 8, 1990, just five months after they confessed, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested the brothers after hearing the tapes of them confessing to Dr. Oziel. They then were set a court date, in 1993. However, they had to do a second trial, which started on Aug. 21, 1995.
After the second trial, the jury concluded that the brothers were guilty and they were charged with first-degree murder. They were sentenced to life in prison with no parole. They were going to be in prison for their entire life, however, the LAPD have just found new evidence that shows the brothers weren’t lying in court about why they killed their parents.
In the trials during the 1990s, the brothers had said that their dad had sexually abused them in many different forms. Nobody believed them or their family members that testified in court. Just recently, they have found new evidence, a letter that E. Menendez had written to his cousin about his father, which was written a year before the murder took place.
Now, after the Menendez brothers have served 30 years in prison, they have started to get a lot of attention from the media. Netflix made a show about them called, “Monsters,” starring Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez. They have also made a documentary called, “The Menendez Brothers.” As many Americans use Netflix to watch their entertainment, many people have now seen more about the case.
Since there was new evidence found by the LAPD, the brothers are going back to court for a hearing. They will then see their new fate. Many people are interested in what will happen to the brothers and if they will ever get to walk the streets of Los Angeles again. Their court date is set for Nov. 29, 2024, where they will get to testify again.