‘The media we choose to consume, and believe, has real consequence.’

The second instalment of Ryan Murphy’s anthology Netflix series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, has reignited fascination in a true-crime case closed 27 years ago.

Murphy’s 2022 inaugural biopic, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, chronicled the gruesome murder (and dismemberment) of 17 men over a 13-year period. Following its release, it was accused of profiting off the victims and their families; re-traumatising them all over again. It also became the second most-watched English-language series ever streamed – and so a follow-up was inevitable.

Enter Lyle and Erik Menendez, the brothers who fatally shot their millionaire parents, Kitty and José, in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. Monsters relays the events leading up to the killings, along with the inscrutable aftermath.

At their first trial, Lyle and Erik alleged that they killed their parents in self-defence and retribution for a lifetime of emotional and sexual abuse. The prosecution claimed that they were driven by greed and the desire to inherit a multimillion-dollar fortune. The hearing ended in a mistrial with a hung jury.

The brothers’ retrial took place in 1995, but the judge refused to allow evidence supporting the allegations of abuse. They were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Erik and Lyle, now 53 and 56 respectively, have spent more than three decades in prison to date.

The televised trial became a national sensation and now, so too has the Murphy adaption: satisfying the viewer’s insatiable appetite for true crime alongside irresistible 1980s and 1990s nostalgia. Throw in some great casting: Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch play the brothers and Chloë Sevigny and Javier Bardem their estranged parents, and you’ve got yourself a series with some serious clout. See Milli Vanilli’s 1980s hits ‘Blame It on the Rain’ and ‘Girl I’m Gonna Miss You’ debuting on last week’s TikTok Billboard Top 50.

Better yet, read Kim Kardashian’s letter urging prosecutors to reconsider the brothers’ life sentences. Kardashian, a vocal activist for criminal justice reform, visited Lyle and Erik in prison last month and composed her findings in an essay to NBC News. ‘I have spent time with Lyle and Erik; they are not monsters,’ she wrote. ‘They are kind, intelligent and honest men.’

Netflix

Netflix

Now the sibling’s legal team is reviewing new information that could result in a retrial. Earlier this month, the Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón confirmed that the men have been granted a November hearing after his office received new evidence which corroborates their claims of sexual abuse. What Gascón hasn’t confirmed is exactly what new evidence has put the possibility of a retrial and resentencing on the table, yet it’s presumed he’s alluding to a newly uncovered letter that supports the brother’s claims of physical and sexual abuse (as featured in the Netflix series) by their father. CBS News obtained a copy of the letter, which Erik wrote to his cousin Andy months before his parents’ murder.

Speaking to the documentary director [of The Menendez Brother] Alejandro Hartmann, Lyle said he now feels ‘lifted by collective hope’.

Such positivity for a retrial is a similar sentiment once felt by Making a Murderer ‘star’ Steven Avery. Avery, along with his nephew, Brendan Dassey, is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of 25-year-old Teresa Halbach in 2005 – a crime they both maintain they didn’t commit. To complicate matters, Avery was in the process of suing the state for $36 million (£27.5 million) at the time of his arrest (for a previous wrongful conviction for sexual assault and attempted murder).

‘I have spent time with Lyle and Erik; they are not monsters,’ says Kim Kardashian

Avery’s case received global interest, as the two-part series cast doubt on his latest conviction. His lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, filed a motion to appeal in 2019 and suggested that her client’s dream of freedom was ‘a new reality’.

But in July 2021, a Wisconsin Court rejected the appeal and affirmed his conviction, ruling that ‘the defendant has failed to establish any grounds that would trigger the right to a new trial in the interests of justice.’ It would seem in the eyes of the court, despite the renewed questioning of and global intrigued surrounding Avery’s guilt following the TV series’ release, no new evidence had been presented to validate the need of an appeal.

Netflix

More prolific, is the case of Adnan Syed, the subject for the debut series of the award-winning podcast, Serial. In February 2000, Syed was convicted of the kidnap and murder of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, and sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison. He too maintained his innocence.

Some 14 years later, Serial bought widespread public attention to the case, as journalist and presenter Sarah Koenig explored the inconsistencies – altered witness statements and scant forensic evidence – in Syed’s conviction.

Syed was cleared of all charges in 2022, only for them to be reinstated a year later due to a procedural issue. The case will be sent for a new hearing on whether Syed’s murder conviction should be thrown out, but he remains a free man while his case is heard.

Lauded for its work, Serial was downloaded more than 100 million times during its freshman year and won a Peabody Award for its ‘compelling, drilling account of how guilt, truth and reality are decided.’ It also led the way for a slew of copycat podcasters and sparked debate around the ethics of the genre, for both the victims and their families.

For Lee’s family, the resurgence of the trial has been traumatic, ‘This is not a podcast for me. This is real life,’ Young Lee, Hae Min’s brother, told the court. ‘It’s a nightmare. This is killing us.’

Getty Images

Getty Images

In similar vein, the Menendez family have criticised Monsters as a ‘grotesque shock a drama’ and a ‘character assassination’. Tammi Menendez, wife to Erik, posted his response to the series last week, calling it a ‘dishonest portrayal’ and criticising the ‘horrible and blatant lies’. Meanwhile, Murphy has defended the series, noting that despite the brothers’ and their families criticism of the show, ‘the thing that they thought would hurt them is actually helping them’.

If a retrial and resentencing were to take place, a jury would be required to examine new evidence, or a plea deal, that could allow the brothers to be released following time served. That would undoubtedly be in thanks, to an extent, to the publicity resulting from the TV series. But, remember, for every Menendez brother, Avery and Syed, there are thousands of prisoners who don’t see their innocence, character and trials become water cooler conversation across the globe, nor pique the interest of the public, celebrities and lawyers, alike.

Like all TV genres, there is good and bad true crime. The good has reformative potential to shine light on the flaws of our justice systems. The bad, a tendency to romanticise perpetrators and glamourise murder, spreading half-truths and fuel conspiracy theories in its wake. And while it takes more than armchair sleuthing to solve (or indeed retry) a case, it’s clear that the media we choose to consume, and believe, has real consequence.