The Menendez murders were described as one of the nation’s most sensational cases. Two brothers, Erik and Lyle Menendez, were convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1996 for the murder of their parents Kitty and Jose Menendez in 1989. Now after almost 35 years, here’s why I think they should be free.
Now, murder is wrong, no way around that. But the details of this case provide a better reason for what the motive truly could have been for the Menendez brothers to kill their parents in 1989. In 1993 Erik and Lyle Menendez had their first trial. During this trial details of how the brothers’ home life was brought up and claimed as sexual, emotional, and physical abuse. According to an article in Biography, the prosecution argued the brothers were after the parents’ inheritance. This claim was backed by the evidence of both brothers spending $700,000 out of the $14 million they inherited from their father’s net worth. On the defense side, both Lyle and Erik claimed self-defense, and provided evidence of testimonies of sexual abuse. The article also talks about the brothers and when the abuse started, “Lyle, from ages six to eight, and Erik, from ages six to eighteen, a claim filled with graphic descriptions that shocked the nation and split friends and family members.”
Throughout the many days of testimonies in the first trial, Lyle claimed he confronted his father, Jose, about sexually assaulting Erik only days before the murders. The defense also claimed their mother Kitty struggled with substance abuse and was aware of Jose and his affairs. After these testimonies and evidence were presented, the jury had two different verdicts to deliberate on, voluntary manslaughter or first-degree murder. After weeks of deliberations the jury was deadlocked. What deadlocked or a hung jury means is when the jurors can’t come to a unanimous verdict. This resulted in a mistrial.
Regarding the mistrial, according to an article in Newsweek, the jurors for the trial were evenly split. Among the 12 jurors, there were six women and six men. The women believed the brothers’ claims of rape while the men did not. It’s important to acknowledge here that the year was 1993. Americans couldn’t grasp yet, the fact men could be raped. This was something that people just couldn’t fathom at this time. The juror, Hazel Thornton, discussed how the deliberation went. She talked about how people assumed the women had voted based on emotions and “were in love with the brothers and that they were too stupid to understand the jury instructions.” She stated it was the male jurors who were more emotional when voting “pounding on the table and calling us names and trying to get us to vote their way.” She continued, “I thought the women were far more logical than the men were. [The male jurors] just weren’t buying it that a man could be sexually abusing his teenage sons.”
The Menendez case was a watershed moment in speaking about the sexual abuse that happens to young boys and men. It took decades for the people of America to come forward and start talking about this harsh truth. An article on the National Institutes of Health mentions, “Despite the trauma associated with being raped, Sarrel and Masters (1982) found that men can respond sexually under disturbed emotional states, including anger and terror.” A psychological factor that plays into the Menendez case, as they were pushed to killing their parents after years of abuse. The article continued with, “In Western nations, such as the UK, US, and Nordic countries, the prevalence of male-on-male rape or sexual assault is believed to be between 5 and 10% of all sexual assaults each year.” As it is a small percentage, it still is a percentage that shouldn’t be overlooked because of the reports being from men.
Within the Netflix documentary “The Menendez Brothers” the real Erik Menendez stated, “I think that it’s important that the seriousness of my crime not be diminished or minimized.” So yes, the Menendez brothers committed the murder of their parents Kitty and Jose, due to the psychological effects caused from the sexual, physical, and emotional abuse year after year. Now 35 years later they have paid their price and should be set free.
