The Menendez brothers could be “out of prison by Christmas” now that the Los Angeles district attorney has scheduled a hearing to review new evidence their father sexually abused them, Ryan Murphy says.
And if that’s the case, the Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story showrunner would consider shooting a couple of bonus episodes of the hit Netflix series, he told a Variety reporter on Thursday.
Prosecutors are still convinced Lyle and Erik Menendez shot and killed their parents in the family’s Beverly Hills mansion in 1989, when the brothers were 21 and 18, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón told a press conference on Thursday. The brothers maintained all along they were motivated by their father José’s physical, emotional and sexual abuse—which they say began when they were children—and by their mother Kitty’s silence and complicity.
ADVERTISEMENT
But the jury apparently agreed with the prosecution that the abuse was a “total fabrication,” returning a murder verdict and a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole.
The new evidence allegedly shows José Menendez was still abusing Lyle just months before the killing, and that he victimized at least one other young teenage boy. The brothers’ lawyer presented the evidence in a writ of habeas corpus filed more than a year ago.
Since then, Murphy’s Monsters has reignited interest in the case, with high-profile supporters including Kim Kardashian arguing the brothers, now in their fifties, should be released.
“We gave them their moment in the court of public opinion. Basically, we did give them a platform,” Murphy told Variety. “I think they can be out of prison by Christmas. I really believe that.”
The hearing will be held Nov. 29 and will consider both the writ of habeas corpus and a request for re-sentencing. Prosecutors could decide the brothers never would have been convicted if the jury had been given the new evidence, or that they have been rehabilitated and are eligible for immediate release—meaning the usually hyperbolic Murphy could in fact be on to something.
