The Menéndez brothers get to tell their story in a recent Netflix documentary after the disappointment of a prior project.
The documentary “Menéndez Brothers,” was released on Monday and included prolonged interviews of Lyle and Erik Menéndez about the 1989 murder of both their parents.
It focused around the 1989 murders of José and Kitty Menéndez, who were murdered by their sons Lyle and Erik.
The brothers testified in court that it was self defense that caused them to murder their parents because of alleged abuse, according to an Oct. 8, Newsweek article.
This follows the biopic “Monster: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story”created by director Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan.
Public interest in the case skyrocketed from Murphy and Brennan’s controversial drama, which Erik claims to be full of blatant lies, according to a Sep. 25 statement by Erik released on X formerly known as Twitter.
Lyle and Erik provide exclusive interviews of over 20 hours to the documentary’s director, Alejandro Hartmann, according to an Oct. 8 Rolling Stones article.
The documentary extends past the interviews of the brothers and focuses on the timeline of the crimes they committed.
Throughout the documentary, it tells the chronological story of how the murders took place, the police investigation, the brothers arrest and the mishaps of the first and second trial.
Journalist Robert Rand spoke in the documentary, providing information about the case as he originally covered the murders after they were committed on Aug. 21, 1989 for the Miami Herald. “Beverly Hills was the American dream and people wanted to live in those mansions and have that kind of money," Rand said in thedocumentary.“In the 1980s, Beverly Hills as well as the rest of the United States, was in (an) era of greed.”
New York Times journalist Alan Abrahamson was also featured in the documentary and felt that at the time, Beverly Hills was maybe the safest place to live in America.
“At the time Beverly Hills was maybe the safest place to live in America, and how murders do not happen, as well as (how) two boys don’t kill their parents,” Abrahamson said.
This adds context as to why the police didn’t think of the brothers as prime suspects until the boys started spending large amounts of money on expensive cars, jewelry, and clothes.
Their inheritance money could have been Erik and Lyle’s motive for murdering their parents.
Following the first 24 hours, the brothers had shotgun shells in the trunk of Lyle’s car and gunpowder residue on their hands, according to Erik.
The first trial took place in 1993, which resulted in a mistrial because the jury was deadlocked for over a month and couldn't come to a collective decision if the brothers should be charged.
Deadlock is when a jury is unable to reach a verdict by the required voting margin, despite making honest attempts, according to a Cornell law web page.
The second trial then took place in 1995, which resulted in a sentencing of life without parole for the brothers.
During this trial, Judge Stanley Weisberg limited certain testimonies that related to the brother's abuse claims and didn’t allow the jury to vote for the option of manslaughter, according to the documentary.
This added a major concern to the viewer because the brothers and the defense had to find a new and better way to present their case in court.
I felt this was unfair to the brothers because they truly believed that they were defending themselves and had to find a different strategy to sway the jury in their favor.
At the end of the documentary, the brothers explain how they have dealt with life behind bars.
Even though the brothers have been locked behind bars for decades it seems to me that they have endured life in prison and they do have regrets of murdering their parents.
After 21 years of being in separate prisons, the boys reunited in the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California.
Both of the brothers found their wasy to deal with being separate from each other all these years.
In Netflix’s documentary, Erik found that art was an important part of his daily routine and is a powerful outlet that helps him get through life in prison.
Painting is how he expressed himself after being away from his brother Lyle for all these years.
In the documentary, Erik blames himself for the crimes that were committed and finds fault for the reason why his brother is in jail.
“I went to the only person (Lyle) who has ever helped me, that has ever protected me, ultimately this happened because of me, he was arrested because of me,” Erik said.
Lyle has always viewed himself as someone who should always protect his younger brother and in some ways, he viewed that he couldn’t protect his brother knowing that they are in different prisons.
“I feared that I could not protect him (Erik), I felt no peace like a part of me was across the state,” Lyle said. “I fought for decades to be reunited with my brother.
It is obvious to me that Lyle has always deeply cared about Erik especially when it comes to the alleged sexual abuse that occurred to him and his brother.
Both of the brothers were allegedly sexually abused by their father but Erik was the one that couldn’t take it anymore.
Erik blames himself because he had a hard time living with himself after the murders, and decided to see his therapist, Dr. Jerome Oziel. Oziel and on these recordings, viewers can hear Erik confessing to the murders.
Despite a new generation of support and advocacy for the Menéndez brothers, Erik does not want their crimes to be forgotten.
“I do worry and I do think that it is important that the seriousness of my crime not be minimized or diminished,” Erik said.
George Gascón, the Los Angeles County District Attorney, is reviewing the case based on two new factors.
Gascón mentioned a letter from Erik in 1988 to his cousin referring to alleged abuse by his father, as well as an allegation made by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, against father José Menéndez, according to a Oct. 8, CBS article.
A hearing on the Menéndez brothers’ petition is set for November 29, according to a CNN article.
The documentary compared to Ryan Murphy's dramatization of the brothers is vastly different when it comes to the perception of how the brothers acted and their personas.
They both paint a great picture of the current events during the time of the trial and what was happening in Los Angeles.
It is important to the viewer for a better understanding of what was going on at the time, including the Rodney King Riots and the O.J Simpson trial.
However, what the documentary does best is give the brothers a voice after so many years of being locked behind bars, by sharing their story through many perspectives.
