The Menendez brothers have been in prison for 28 years due to the murder of their parents. There has been a recent media outbreak of attention on them due to the new Ryan Murphy show “Monsters” about the brothers. There is talk going around about a possible retrial or resentencing. This has brought up questions about the public opinion around the case due to the overwhelming opinions now more than ever before. People are questioning whether or not public opinions should be taken into account when it comes to legal proceedings. People have very mixed opinions of why they should or should not play a role in the law, especially when it comes to a case like this that brings out such strong emotions and opinions in people. I think public opinions should be able to sway legal proceedings in certain cases, like this one.
Lyle Menendez was a victim of sexual abuse by his father Jose Menendez from the young age of six years old. Erik Menendez became a victim of the same abuse by their father when he was a little older. Their mother Kitty Menendez knew about the abuse going on, but stayed silent and let Jose get away with it, leaving the boys to suffer in silence. This continued up until Jose and Kitty were murdered. Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 when they killed their parents in 1989.
They claimed they killed their parents out of self-defense. “They tried to confront their father about the abuse but it didn’t go well,” junior Sophie McMackins said.
In Erik’s testimony, he said he told Lyle about the abuse he was experiencing only two weeks before the murder. That is when Lyle told Erik about the abuse he had also been experiencing. This led to them confronting their father. In both of their testimonies, they said the confrontation led to their father threatening to kill them if they did not keep the abuse a secret. The brothers knew they had to kill their parents before their parents killed them.
Some people say they still should not have killed their parents, there had to be another way to get out of it. However to the brothers, murder was the only option.
Their father was “powerful, he had money, he had a big public presence, he could send search parties if they ran away, or he could silence them or kill them if they tried to speak out and get their father arrested,” junior Henry Collyard said.
They had tried family therapy and individual therapy, but nothing helped the relationship with their parents and it certainly did not help their abusive situation with their father. Their father would always win.
The first trial of the Menendez brothers ended in a mistrial, the jury was undecided. The second trial was not a fair one. The judge did not allow the sexual abuse to be used as evidence, which took away a lot of the motive and argument for the brothers’ defense team.
“If the sexual abuse was able to be used in the second trial I believe it would have ended differently for sure, I think they still would have gone to jail, but for way less time,” junior Addison Brekke said.
Other than the abuse, the reasons for killing their parents seemed smaller to most of the public, which is why the public was so outraged by this trial’s decision. Because of this, they were charged with first-degree murder and life in prison with no chance of parole.
When the public was asked if they had noticed a difference in the societal/legal awareness and acceptance of male sexual abuse victims between 1989 and now they all said “yes 100 percent” because of how taboo it was to talk about back then.
Back then, nobody talked about how men were sexually abused. This led to a bias in the courtroom because no one believed it could happen to a man, whereas now society sees and recognizes that men do get sexually abused and we now as a society realize that the Menendez brothers were failed by the justice system with this case.
“The public opinion can really affect how you see the situation now and how they should proceed with this case. They should let the sexual abuse evidence be way more important now due to the awareness of it. It should have been important back then too but it clearly wasn’t to the judge,” Collyard said.
This abuse was traumatizing and horrific for them and to know that it happened to young kids is disturbing and disappointing. It is important to recognize that these are their own parents, the people who are supposed to love and protect them and be their role models, but they are the ones doing this to their children.
The legal system has been oblivious and turned its heads from this case for years. The public however has been fighting for the brother’s justice and freedom since the day they went to jail. Public opinion should matter to the legal system because the public sees the full side of the case, the emotions, the stories, the testimonies, all of it. The public is the reason this trial is being resurfaced with so much attention. The public opinion should be able to sway this legal proceeding because the brothers are not violent people. Many witnesses stated that in their testimonies.
The Menendez brothers killed their parents out of self-defense because of their horrific circumstances with their father. They have already served close to 30 years in prison. They wanted to get rid of their father and live a free life away from the abuse, but they have never been able to live a free life.
To the legal system, murder is murder and there can be no justification for it, not even these horrific circumstances, which is why the brothers are still in jail. However, due to the public’s strong opinions, the legal system is starting to see this new evidence and a new awareness of male sexual abuse victims, and they are allowing a hearing, set for Nov. 26 to discuss the possible retrial and resentencing of the brothers after all these years. Hopefully this time the legal system will give the brothers justice once and for all and let them live free lives at last.
