The Menendez Brothers: Reversal of Fortune?
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- The new question just this week, could two of the most infamous killers ever soon be headed toward freedom? - David Lyle and Eric Menendez making new headlines 35 years after murdering their parents. All the breaking details on "2020" right now. - As I went into the room, I just started firing. - What was in front of you? - My parents.

The press frenzy just this week. 20 family members of both sides are here to urge the DA to resent. This family is saying they've been punished enough. One of the most notorious double murders ever. I'm just a normal kid. Oh, Eric, you're a normal kid who killed your parents. Now, fact. Wish that I could take that moment back. And Ryan Murphy's fiction.

Getting a new generation obsessed. I would say people do believe that it was an act of self-defense. At the same time as a reexamination in the DA's office. You said that you might rule on the resentencing in October. Everybody has an opinion about this case. This is not a child abuse trial, this is a murder trial. Tonight, their only side-by-side interview.

I couldn't accept it. You couldn't accept it, but you called the police. You pretended that you hadn't done it. Plus, what has never aired before. How close the two of you are. And the evidence getting a new look now. That's the man here. Doesn't rate me. Tell me about the letter. Eric wrote in the letter, "I'm afraid every night." I think it's total BS. It's all nonsense. Was this a miscarriage of justice?

I've just got to find out what time I'm being picked up. We're here to support Eric and Lyle. It's time for them to be released. We're going to go have breakfast with the supporters of Eric and Lyle that we're getting ready for the press conference at 1:00. It's a family reunion and it's a time for gathering and showing a collective support.

which we hope is sending a powerful message to the world and to the district attorney. We want to see these boys released from prison. It's time. Well, hello, everybody. Oh. Time has come. It's been long enough. I get so emotional thinking about it. This is a prime example of showing support for the family. That's what all of us are doing now because we love the boys so much.

This week, nearly 20 members of both sides of the Menendez brothers' family came out in full force in front of dozens of cameras to emotionally plea for their release. This is about truth, justice and healing. I never thought this day would come. It's time to give them the opportunity to live the rest of their lives free from the shadow of their past.

They're notorious cases back in the headlines, 35 years after their parents' brutal murder.

It was from the jump, one of the biggest cases in Los Angeles and in the country. No one could believe that these two young men had killed their parents this way.

Entertainment executive Jose Menendez and his wife were slain in the family room of their Beverly Hills mansion. You had two young brothers armed with shotguns accused of killing their parents. Society focuses on that one moment that we cry, but there's more to it. Their freedom, once unimaginable, is now looking more and more possible. You know, how they killed their parents, Jose and Kitty, was always clear. But why they did it has divided the nation.

Remember, this was not a whodunit. This was why. Physical, verbal, psychological, sexual abuse that went on for years. Lyle and Eric Menendez are stone cold murderers. None of the abuse excuse evidence is corroborated, but even if you accept that it's true, abuse does not justify a revenge killing. Never. Never.

Never, ever. We are in a fascinating time in society now, and everybody has an opinion about this case. There are some who argue that the sex abuse was fabricated. Sure they do. They don't want to admit the truth. From ABC News, this is 2020 Tonight.

I killed my parents. - 2020 covered the Menendez murders extensively from the start. And when a new generation discovered it in the age of TikTok, we were there. - Enter TikTok, amazing. The Menendez story going viral in 2021. - I don't believe they got a fair trial. - They don't deserve to live the rest of their life in prison. - I think they're seen as the victims of a less enlightened time.

I would say people of my generation predominantly do believe that it was an act of self-defense. I just told him, I don't, I don't. I said that, I'm sorry. Now the wildly popular scripted Netflix series, Monsters, is creating a new wave of interest in the case that's gaining momentum. And he said that he didn't mean to hurt me and that he loved me.

Rosie O'Donnell, who's become friends with the brothers, is now calling for their release. Do you think their punishment fit their crime? Their punishment has outlasted. They were 21 and 18 when they committed their crime. Their brains were not even formed yet. All as a powerful movement builds online to set the brothers free. With the Milli Vanilli song. You're leaving.

Lyle dedicated to his parents blowing up on TikTok. These kids, they get impassioned, you know, that 18, 20 in college, and they blew up this Frida Menendez Brothers. Absolutely blew it up. But TikTok is more the court of public opinion. It's not the law. TikTok is 100% the wrong forum for this. The reason we have rules and law is because when

In 2023, the Menendez brothers' attorneys filed a new motion citing newly resurfaced evidence in a push to get them out of prison.

- That catalyst was something in real time that wasn't available, something else that was not available. - The evidence, a letter from Eric Menendez to his cousin alluding to his father's abuse written months before the murders.

I knew immediately that it was a potentially major piece of evidence. The other piece of evidence? A new alleged victim of the father, Jose Menendez. This one is a former member of the 80s boy band Menudo, Roy Rossello. The Menudo star said that Jose molested him in his home.

in that home. Not surprising. The significance is now, oh, this does support that this man, Jose Menendez, was a sexual predator, not only with his children, but with other people's children. And now a blockbuster move. The L.A. district attorney. Good afternoon, everyone. Announced that his office is reviewing the Menendez case.

One of the most notorious murder trials in U.S. history. Los Angeles District Attorney is considering whether Lyle and Eric Menendez should be resentenced. The decision to move forward is now in the hands of the District Attorney, who'll need to consider the questions: Have the Menendez brothers served enough time? And have they been rehabilitated? Do you think the Menendez brothers will walk free someday? Given the totality of the circumstances, I don't think that they deserve to be in prison until they die. Okay? I don't believe that.

Lyle and Eric Menendez have been behind bars now for more than three decades. And they've only ever spoken once, sitting side by side, to our own Barbara Walters. Tonight, never-before-seen excerpts from that iconic interview. Do you think you're evil? My name is Lyle Menendez. I am the kid that did kill his parents. And no river of tears has changed that. And no amount of regret has changed it.

This was the first big trial. I covered it. It was the American dream come crashing down. Lyle and Eric Menendez seemed to have it all. From the outside, the Menendez family were living the American dream.

An immigrant from Cuba who has risen to the heights of Hollywood power. His wife and their two sons, who were star tennis players and, you know, destined for great colleges.

They had achieved the American dream. They were living in the mansion in Beverly Hills. They were living behind the gate. So on the outside, to most people, this was the perfect all-American family. People assume that if you have money, you have no problems. And you're certainly not going to do anything like kill your parents because you got it made. And it turns out that rich people have dysfunctional families just as much as poor people.

One kid killing the parents is a bad seed. Two kids killing the parents is a bad family. Jose Menendez was an immigrant. He emigrated from Cuba at about the age of 16. With this ferocious drive and talent. Jose and Kenny Menendez met when they were both students at Southern Illinois University.

Kitty was my sister, my younger sister. She was stunningly beautiful. And I mean beautiful on the outside and even more so on the inside. They got married when they were both in college. Jose Menendez rose to the really heights of corporate power. He was a music executive, he was a movie executive, and he was a domineering personality.

Kitty Menendez had dreams of becoming an actress, and after her sons were born, Jose basically told her, "You can't work. You need to take care of our sons." The boys were extremely spoiled. I would tell Kitty, I said, "You know, there's got to be some discipline in their life somewhat, and I think it would be smart for you to rein them in a little bit and hold them accountable for some of the things that they do." And of course, she would come right back and, "Brian, don't tell me how to raise my boys."

She wanted Lyle and Eric to be as competitive as she was and as her husband was. For 20 years, the Menendez family lived in Princeton, New Jersey. And then Jose became an executive in the entertainment industry. So in 1987, the family moved to California. And they were really, really proud to have this house that they had found there. And this is just the most beautiful setting.

Jose and Kitty Menendez were very concerned about the facade of their family. They wanted the public image to be perfect. Lyle and Eric were very influenced by what their father thought and they wanted at all times to please death. Describe your relationship with your father. Brutal, painful, torturous and yet I admired him because he was so strong and he was

He was everything that success was, that I was taught that success was. And I thought that he was the most powerful and brilliant person I had ever met. I was his firstborn son. That was very important to him. And he was a very forceful and I think very brutal person. And my bond with him was, I thought, strong.

because we had been through so much together. Lyle Menendez was going to be the better, improved version of Jose. For Jose Menendez, having a son go to an Ivy League school like Princeton was the end of the American dream. But Lyle Menendez had mediocre grades, was not a great student. He really wasn't Princeton material. Lyle was flunking out of Princeton, not only academically, but socially. He was doing things he wasn't supposed to do.

Eric and Lyle Menendez kept screwing up. They were hanging out with a group of friends that began doing what was called hot prowls, in which they would sneak into a house when nobody was there. At one point, Lyle Menendez actually committed a burglary with several of his friends.

Lyle showed his little brother that he had done this crime and his little brother said, "Well, I can do the same thing." The initial victims were the parents of some of their friends. And in the first burglary, over $100,000 of items were taken out of the house, including cash and jewelry taken from a safe. Now, it was my understanding

that their burglaries consisted of backing up a moving van to a house that was empty and cleaning out the house, which is different from breaking into a house and stealing the family's silver. What's that about? I think they were practicing to be criminals. I think they thought being criminals would be a fun way to earn a living. They wind up getting arrested in Jose, in his inimitable way,

decided that he was going to quickly put it to rest. And he went out and he visited every one of the homes that had been robbed. He apologized, and his son apologized, and he wrote him a check right on the spot.

When poor kids do a burglary, like they go to their neighbor's house and take the big screen TV, they go to juvenile court or they go on probation or something like that. When rich kids do it, they go to the psychiatrist. Joe, when he found out that the children had been arrested, he was ashamed by them getting caught because I think Jose thought that life was about winning and probably it was not as important how you got there. Joe was never satisfied.

Lyle and Eric, I think, had a strong fear of Dad. It was so obvious, but it was not spoken. The impression I got about Jose Menendez's character was that he could be charming when he chose to, but that his basic nature was very abusive, and that he was abusive to his sons especially and to his wife.

When you say uncomfortable, you mean like everyone was on pins and needles? Everybody was on pins and needles and everything had to be just perfect, just the way Jose would want it. Appearances meant a lot. Yes, appearances were everything. When we went to their house, there was a ferret, always. And the ferret died one day. And Katie and Joe assumed that one of their dogs had killed it.

And one of their dogs was a black, very aggressive dog. They had aggressive dogs. The children opened the refrigerator one day and found the dog's head inside. To me, the Menendez brothers became homicidal monsters that were shaped by Jose Menendez. Next up, this is a rare look inside the 2020 vault.

Never before seen footage. The first thing you said to me was that you missed your mother. I remember thinking it a very strange thing to say. This is a rare look inside the 2020 vault. Never before seen footage of Barbara Walters exclusive 1996 interview with the Menendez brothers. It's hard for people to understand, I guess, how close the two of you are. On the other hand, had you not been that close,

all of this might never have happened. It's true. I think in the environment we grew up in, home was like a fearful, demeaning place. And for Eric and I, I bet it's probably not uncommon for siblings that grow up in those kind of homes to be unusually close. And because they have to be there for each other and there's so much stress. And so it is true that this happened in part because Eric...

wanted, needed my help. And he blames himself for that and I blame myself for not protecting him earlier. And we just, you know, we try to just go on. I think the Menendez brothers were close because they were fighting the common enemy, which was their father. He believed that life is like war and that anything you do to achieve your end is fine. Including, it turns out, killing your parents. There are people, a great number of people,

who think that you two are spoiled brats what do you say to them i don't know that there's anything i can say to them because i came from a family of wealth it doesn't make me spoiled i'm just a normal kid oh eric you're a normal kid who killed your parents yeah i know and you still say you're a normal kid well i didn't have normal experiences but i i am i i i did that

There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about what happened and wish that I could take that moment back. Is it hard for you, Lyle? It is difficult to be a whole 28 years defined by a day.

That day, according to the brothers, was the culmination of years of unspeakable abuse by their father, Jose. This was a very chaotic, traumatic, dysfunctional, horrific family situation. You could see when they were younger

and less so as they got older. There was these two lively, fun children, young boys, who just became sadder and sadder through the years. Karen's sister Diane was living with the Menendez family and babysitting for the brothers when she says Lyle confided in her. When Lyle told me about the abuse, he was eight years old at the time. I was in my room.

changing the sheets on my bed and Lyle came in saying that he was afraid to sleep in his own bed because his father and him had been touching each other down there. And I went upstairs and got Kitty. By her demeanor, I could tell that she was not believing any of this.

Lyle told his cousin Diane that he had been molested, and she told his mother Kitty. But Diane says Kitty adamantly denied that this was true, and she was very upset, and could that be because perhaps now the secret is out? You know, it is hard to wrap your head around that until you think about the fact that she knew. Eric, you and I met once before, several years ago. This is even more footage from that Barbara Walters interview that has never been seen before.

And the first thing you said to me was that you missed your mother. I remember thinking it a very strange thing to say. Describe your relationship with your mother. My relationship with mom was very close. There was not a lot of communication, but she, I saw her as, I heard and saw her get beaten by my dad. And so I loved her and she loved me.

There wasn't a lot of communication, but there was a bond between us where she would try to reach out to me with a smile and I would try to help her through it. We went through it together. If Jose was with one of the boys down the hallway, you were not allowed to go down the hallway. That to me is chilling. He had sexually molested me before I was a teenager and it was a different, much different experience than Eric's. Was you a little...

Because I was little, I guess. But it was difficult to be close to my father and yet have so much conflict in the home. Now a crucial piece of evidence has resurfaced. A long-forgotten handwritten letter from Eric Menendez to his cousin Andy. And guess what? Barbara Walters first revealed it in 2016.

It was given to me recently by a Menendez relative. A letter 15-year-old Eric had written to his cousin Andy about his father. "It's still happening, Andy, but it's worse for me now. I never know when it's going to happen, and it's driving me crazy. Every night I stay up thinking he might come in. I need to put it out of my mind. I know what you said before, but I am afraid."

That letter predates the killings by eight to nine months. That letter details Eric's disgust and frustration and trauma over the repeated sex acts by his dad, now disgusted he was, complaining to his very close cousin, Andy. - You know, in hindsight, I wish that I would've been stronger about what Lyle was telling me so that I could've done something to help them.

There was certainly no indication of any kind that there was ever any abuse. I mean, it just didn't happen. What do you say to people who say, well, I think they made it up? I say, well, you have your own opinion, but I know the truth.

There was a confrontation. It's very difficult to understand the emotion and the fear and the conflict that is building over the years to something like this. It's difficult to just say, "Well, this is why this happened." There was going to be a violent confrontation at some point. -The shot? -Yes. -Who was the person that took the shot? -I love it right there.

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On the Tuesday before the murders, Lyle Menendez and his mother Kitty were having an argument. She got so upset that she began striking the older brother and she even ripped off his toupee. And Eric was actually in the hallway and he saw this happen and he didn't even know that his brother was wearing a toupee. Which his father had forced him to wear because he started having thinning hair.

And the brothers had a very emotional conversation in which they agreed that there were so many secrets in the family. And at that point, Eric broke down and he started crying. And his brother said, "What's wrong with you? What are you crying about?" And Eric said, "Dad, dad has been doing things to me." So this family was reaching a crisis point.

Lyle Menendez confronted his father after Eric had told him that he was still being molested by his father. Jose Menendez got furious, threatened to cut them out of the family, cut them out of the will. Then, with this secret about to come out, Lyle and Eric Menendez, the defense claimed, genuinely believed that Jose Menendez was going to kill them. And they thought, we have to kill him before he kills us. You know...

There are some questions that everybody asks, like, "Why didn't you run away?" And I wish that I could have. I tried to run away when I was 12, and my father found me. He caught me and said, "If you ever run away, I will kill you. I will find you, and I will kill you." August 20th, 1989 was an unusually warm, balmy evening in Beverly Hills.

Most of the neighbors who live near the Menendez mansion had their windows open to let fresh air in. Beverly Hills is a quiet town. Even the business district kind of folds up at 7 o'clock. We average two murders a year and really don't know what you're in for when you get a murder call.

Yes.

what happened who is the person that took a shot my mom and my dad your mom and dad okay hold on a second okay we're on our way over there with an ambulance 12 shots in the middle of beverly hills on a sunday night and no one calls the police we're waiting at the house no one shows up and

I still can't believe it. I'm sitting on the stairs afterwards thinking the police are going to be there in seconds. They've got roving patrol. And people, many, many people did hear the shots. Many neighbors came in and said they heard all these shots, but nobody called because they just figured this is Beverly Hills, this doesn't happen in Beverly Hills. So you called the police, but at that point you had already decided... We had decided not to. You weren't going to say anything. We had decided that our feeling was not...

we'll just explain what happened and it'll be okay. We were very stunned and we felt that we would go to jail, obviously, and we, it was a selfish reason to just not want to have to go through that. By this intersection, I could actually see the police tape and the police cars.

in front of Nenda's house. As we walked in the front door, the only thing I could really detect is the silence. It was just eerily quiet. It was so quiet inside.

From the foyer was a staircase and then in the back of the foyer was this library family room, which is where the murder occurred. The television was on, so it was just a normal evening for them. Kitty was wearing white. She was covered in blood. Jose had a shotgun blast to the back of his head. Blood everywhere. There was brain matter on the ceiling, on the windows. It was really horrendous.

There were some typical protocols that police would normally do at a homicide scene that weren't done in this case. There are things that could have been done that night that would have proven that they were the killers. The murder weapons were in their cars. Nobody bothered to look.

Among the things that the police decided not to subject Lyle and Eric to was gunshot residue tests on their hands to determine if they'd fired a firearm. At the time, we felt they were victims, and you're not going to press them because their parents just got blown away. The sons told police they left their parents at home to go to the movies. The pair said they came home from a movie.

We didn't have an alibi. All we did was say we were at the movies. But they never check you for gunpowder. You did call the police. That day they didn't. I bet you they changed their policy. Jose was shot five times, once to the head and four others to the body. I had nightmares. I had nightmares about it. I could see their house and I could see them taking them out as I saw on TV, the bodies.

Tell me as clearly as you can why you murdered your parents. First thing that comes to mind is terror. I was so afraid. I was running downstairs and I was crying and my mother was on the couch and she had been drinking and she said, "What's wrong with you?" And I said, "Nothing, nothing. You wouldn't understand." And she said, "Oh, I understand."

"What do you think, I'm stupid?" And she told me that she had known all my life what my father was doing. And Lyle said to my mother, "Are you gonna let this happen?" And she said to him, "You ruined this family." A few days before, I had said to myself, "I'm never gonna let my father touch me again."

And just before the shootings, my dad told me to get to my room. He was going to come up and there was going to be sex. And it was like an explosion in my mind. No. But their behavior in the next days and weeks would call into question their real motive.

Entertainment executive Jose Menendez and his wife were slain in the family room of their Beverly Hills mansion by killers using 12-gauge shotguns. They were murdered, killed gangland style, in cold blood. Homicide detectives say it could have been a mob hit, contract killings.

They tried to make it look like a mafia hit by the kneecapping. They told the police it was a mafia hit. When you heard about the shooting, what went through your mind? Initially, you know, they thought it was like a mob hit. So at first, they were even worried about, you know, extended family. People were calling and saying, "We want you to, you know, be really careful."

Lyle and Eric weren't suspects at first. Police were looking elsewhere. The son said they discovered the bodies when they arrived home several hours later. How many shots do you think went off? About six in a row. The police felt it necessary to start investigating the organized crime aspect, and they soon realized that was a dead end. They knew that the brothers had done it. But knowing it and proving it are two different things. The Menendez family fortune quickly became a focus for the police.

Five weeks after the murders, Eric and Lyle Menendez received an insurance policy payout of $400,000. They went on a huge spending spree. I mean, if I killed my parents, I don't think I'd buy a Porsche that first week. They weren't shattered and traumatized by grief. They were having a grand old time spending the money of the dead man. Bought cars, bought suits, bought watches, bought luxury goods.

So much has been made over the decades of the boys' spending spree. There were, you know, the Rolex and the this and the that. I just kind of laugh at that because that's how they were raised, spending money. And they may have gone out and had a spending spree, but it was probably the first time they got to choose what they wanted to buy. They didn't go on a spending spree out of greed? No.

I would think that you would be in such grief that you wouldn't be able to buy Rolexes and invest in businesses. Explain to me, let me understand. I'm, you know, I'm the public. Lyle didn't buy anything without first approving it with my uncle or my aunt. You weren't just two greedy kids who wanted a lot of money, that's what you're saying. I didn't know what to do with the money. I went to, I got to a point where I have all this money and so much pain

I don't know what to do with it. You went to your psychologist, Dr. Ozier, and told him that you had committed this crime. You were in torment and you told him. It got to a point where I could no longer live. I felt that I was the worst person on earth and I... I... I... It got to a point where I couldn't live with myself anymore and I needed help. I just could not face God. I could not face God with what I had done. And so I went to him and...

That is what the catalyst was for me getting arrested and Lyle. This exchange with Barbara Walters, shown for the first time, sheds light on Lyle's reaction and the brothers' relationship. When you heard that your brother had confessed, you knew that you'd be arrested. Weren't you furious with him? It really, uh, I was. I was upset that, um,

He had not come to me, but we had trouble communicating. We kind of separated because when we were together, we would be too reminded of what happened. And so he started to look to other people, and in that way it was upsetting. Dr. Oziel went on to tape conversations with both Eric and Lyle, and Dr. Oziel's mistress, Judelon Smith, overheard the confession.

She's the one that came to the police and said, I have information about this Ozeal. They didn't talk about shooting the father a whole lot. They did talk that they had to keep shooting the mother. Eric filled Dr. Ozeal in on many details about what had happened, including where they bought the shotguns. And ABC News has learned that two 12-gauge shotguns were purchased at this sporting goods store in San Diego on August 18th.

two days before the murders. You bought the guns. It wasn't something that just happened that moment. You'd thought about it. No. You bought the guns in advance. They just weren't in the house. Yes, we bought the guns in advance. So, this didn't just happen that moment. We bought the guns. There was many, a series of confrontations and blowups in the house. My dad, when it first was revealed that I had told Lyle about the secret, my dad said to Lyle, you're going to tell everyone

And I'm not going to let that happen. And that's when we bought the guns because we didn't know what was going to happen. So all the pieces fell together and we were able to make the arrest. I couldn't believe it.

The family was on the phone to each other. We were talking back and forth. How could this possibly be? Prosecutors say greed drove the boys to shooting their parents to death last August. $14 million provides ample motive to some people to commit murder. To me, it was like a nightmare, like a movie, like it couldn't be reality.

When the suspicion turned to the brothers and they were arrested, what was your reaction to that? I was very upset, but I have to say I wasn't surprised. It's not like I ever suspected them, but in my mind I thought, "It makes sense." Because? Because they just had no way to make a life for themselves, to get away from this man. Do you think you're evil?

"Oh, no, I'm the opposite of evil. He's not an evil person, and I'm not an evil person." This was a horrific murder. The community and the general public wanted to see justice done in this case. With the Menendez trial, a family tragedy became a media frenzy. This was one of the very first trials aired gavel to gavel. This trial was a sensation. People watched it wall to wall.

Good afternoon. But now, with the family exerting public pressure and a scheduled court hearing next month, a reversal of fortune could be in the works. My hope is to have him over for Thanksgiving dinner. You want the Menendez brothers home for Thanksgiving? Yeah.

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The abused son of wealthy parents. And found their parents lying dead. Or slain in the family room. The Menendez murders that stunned the country. There are people who think that you are evil, that you are monsters. The bombshell trial that transfixed everyone. I just told him. I don't, I don't. You heard.

about some of the things that he liked to do to his little boy. I was saying the boys because it's a shorthand for the dirtbags over there who killed their parents. But now, 35 years later... I get the feeling here that we are being heard. ...the testimony from the brothers... My dad had been molested me. ...that's getting a fresh appraisal, plus the support of so many family members. It's far...

Too much punishment. They were punished just by being with that man. Does sexual abuse lessen your responsibility for murder? That was the question in the case. This is done. This is done. You understand? Tonight, the impact of a miniseries.

The never-before-seen tapes from Barbara Walters' now iconic interview. The first thing you said to me was that you missed your mother. And a growing movement to set the brothers free. Do you think the Menendez brothers will walk free someday? We were with the family this week as they prepared for perhaps the most important press conference of their lives.

Eric and Lyle Menendez have been in prison serving life sentences. Several family members want them released, and this afternoon they announced a new push for that to happen. Please know that I'm nervous and full of emotions. I never thought this day would come. I am Kitty's sister. I stand here today with a heavy heart and also with hope and justice and understanding. This new surge of interest this week is very reminiscent of the media crush back in 1993.

It was a spectacle. The trial was carried gavel to gavel by a new cable TV channel called Court TV. And people were following it everywhere. It's like the crowds in the Roman Colosseum, you know? Blood. They smell blood. When I first saw Eric Menendez walk into the courtroom, my blood went cold because I had never seen someone who had murdered his parents before. The only question in this case

is why did these killings occur? It will become apparent that this murder was unjustified and wholly premeditated, and that but for a few mistakes they made, this was almost the perfect murder.

I knew that we could prove that the Menendez brothers killed their parents. But I also started thinking about, okay, let's say I'm going to make up a defense. What defense would I make up? And I said, I think they're going to fabricate a sexual abuse defense because I can't think of any other reason why we're going to trial.

And guess what? They did. Eric Menendez was the abused son of wealthy parents. Leslie Abramson was Eric's dogged defense attorney. She aggressively pushed abuse as the central issue of the trial. I didn't buy it at the start at all. I thought it was a total artificial construct to do something to save these guys from the death penalty.

The origin of this killing was a lifetime of abuse at the hands of those same parents. I think the strongest piece of evidence that we had, and certainly the most compelling for a prosecutor, were the crime scene photos and the way that they killed their parents. This is her before, and this is her after.

And the problem for the defendants in this case is they can't explain adequately killing mom. They just can't do it. The prosecutors carefully and meticulously laid out their case of two young brothers planning a vicious and brutal premeditated murder. They called Dr. Jerome Oziel. He's that psychologist who spoke at length to both brothers. Remember, they'd confessed to him about the murders.

Well, basically that they hated their father, that they felt they had to kill him because he was constantly... This was a lengthy conversation. He ridiculed them, he put them down, he controlled their every activity. And did you ask them why they killed their mother? Yes, I did. The mother...

was more or less a victim, that the father had nothing but an abusive relationship with her. They also felt that they were putting the mother out of her misery, that she was a miserable, unhappy lady. Although they felt that the mother didn't deserve to die and shouldn't die, they included her in the plan

along with killing their father because it was the only way that they could figure out to kill their father. It ripped apart their stories and made them seem like petty liars covering up an appalling homicide. You were crying, correct? Right. And at the same time you were lying while you were crying, is that correct? Right.

I think there was a near universal sense that this was going to be a sham defense and that it was going to be a joke. And then they got on the witness stand. What did you think was going to happen? I thought they were going ahead with their plan to kill us. I mean, you're familiar with kids saying, oh, my father's going to kill me. Oh, my parents are going to kill me. Is that what you're talking about? No, no. Dad was going to kill us. I could not conceive of these strapping young men

being in such terror that they had to kill their parents out of fear. So, I didn't buy it. Now, after you entered the den... I was just firing. As I went into the room, I just started firing. -In what direction? -In front of me. -What was in front of you? -My parents. She got up and ran because her kids came in with shotguns and started shooting. I cannot imagine. I mean, I just can't imagine anything like that. It's just so horrific.

We fired lots, you know, many, many times and there were just glass and you could hear things breaking and you could hear the ringing noises from the booms and there was the smoke from the guns. I remember my dad coming forward in my direction, so he was standing and I remember firing directly at him. Now what was it that happened after the shooting ended? I heard a noise from my mom.

Regrettably, the mother was not killed instantly. In fact, she was left crawling on the floor. And what did you do after you reloaded? I ran around and shot my mom. Where did you shoot her? I stretched over and I shot her close. I thought that when Lyle described the killing of his mother, that a normal jury would find it reprehensible and convict him. You know, we loved our mother. Oh, yeah, really? You loved your mother? You blew her up.

The prosecution was completely focused on the idea that Eric and Lyle Menendez were greedy rich kids that had killed their parents because they were in a hurry to inherit their money. Why did you need to buy a Rolex watch four days after your parents were killed? I didn't need to. You wanted to. Well, what happened that day is that I was, my uncles had talked to my brother and I and that

I think it was mainly my brother needed to get suits for the memorial service in LA that was coming up. So you just thought a $9,000 18 karat gold Rolex would go nicely with your funeral suit? And I thought that was a very powerful part of the prosecution case. It persuaded me. I mean, I didn't think they were in fear for their lives. I didn't. What do you believe was the originating cause

of you and your brother ultimately winding up shooting your parents. - Are you telling Lyle that I'm-- - You telling Lyle what? - So whoever tells the better story in a trial that's anchored in the facts as they come out, that's who's gonna persuade the jury. - Veronica, can I ask a leading question? - If you don't ask my dad.

Wait one second, Mr. Henry. Okay, let me ask you. No, no, he was in the process of answering, so there's no need to ask him. Can you answer the question? Yes. Okay, it was you telling Lyle what? My dad had been molesting me. You could hear a pin drop in the courtroom, and that's when I thought, oh darn, I'm in trouble.

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It was easy for people to dismiss what they were claiming as an act. The first thing they did is they always dressed in pastels. And they always wore the little crew neck Ralph Lauren sweaters and the little polo shirts underneath to make them look like little Easter egg candies.

And they were referred to all the time as the boys, not the brothers, not the adults, because they were adults, the boys. The boys, the boys, the boys. The boys, the boys, the boys. And it got to the point where I was saying the boys, because it's a shorthand for the dirtbags over there who killed their parents. For 12 years,

Between the ages of 6 and 18, my client, Eric Menendez, was sexually molested by his father. The sex abuse defense, the abuse excuse, was new in the law, and so people were very, very skeptical of it. Sex abuse takes place in private. How can you prove it? Who witnesses it?

The brothers never mentioned the alleged abuse to their own therapist, but they said they did have a corroborating witness. When Eric Menendez was 10 years old, he told his cousin Andy Cano that he'd been sexually molested by his father. Well, he told me his father was massaging his . He used that word? Yes, he did. He wanted to know that this happened to every kid. I do remember very specifically was

Him asking me to make a promise to him never to reveal that to anybody It's hard to explain that away and then when their own testimony came it was very very powerful and between the ages of six and eight Did your father? Have sexual contact with you Yes, he would fondle me and he would ask me to do the same with him and I would I would touch him We would undress he would put me on my knees and he would guide me and

all my movements and I would have oral sexual health. The days that Lyle and Eric Menendez testified to their claims of sexual abuse are among the most unforgettable days I've ever had as a journalist. What else did he do to you? He used objects. What kind of objects? A toothbrush and

some sort of shaving utensil brush. And did he try to anally penetrate you with something else? He did. And what was it? He raped me. Did you ask him not to? I just told him, I don't, I don't... I just told him that I didn't want to do this.

And that it hurt me. And he said that he didn't mean to hurt me. He loved me. At one point he was asked did he do something to Eric. And he dissolved. He broke down. I took him out to the woods. I took a toothbrush also. And I played with Eric in the same way. And I'm sorry. And he says it with such shame. But what is even more convincing, and I was sitting about ten feet from Eric.

is I saw this vein start popping out of his forehead as he hears his brother apologizing as their own secret horrible sordidness comes out into public on television. Did you have some hope over that summer of 1989 for some improvement in your life? Yes. And what did you expect?

I was gonna go to college. How significant a notion was this? It was the most important thing in my life. It was everything in my life. It was all I thought about. Why was it all you thought about? Why was it all I thought about? Yeah. Because it would end with sex, and that's all I thought about. How did you feel at 18 about the fact that your father was having sex with you? I hated it. I hated it. I hated it. You slept in bed with your mom a lot, didn't you? Even when you were little? Yes. And...

Did you continue to sleep in her bed around this time when you were 11 and 12? Sometimes. And sometimes did you touch your mom? Yes. And where would you touch her? Everywhere.

The idea that Eric and Lyle were abused by my sister Kitty is absolute insanity. I thought that was pretty gratuitous and just thrown in as an example of how awful the parents were, that Kitty deserved to die too because she was complicit. Because the problem from their point of view was Jose was a jerk, but what do you do with a mother?

Did she know about the abuse? The sexual abuse? She knew. And didn't do anything? She knew and it doesn't seem that she did anything. Eric, you were able to tell your psychologist that you had killed your parents, but you were not able to tell your psychologist that your father had abused you? Unless you've been molested, you can't realize how hard it is to tell. Because of shame? Because of shame.

The sexual abuse is to portray these people as monsters so that you will not care that they were dead. Both brothers are skilled, incredibly skilled liars. I knew it was real. I'm sorry, I'm just gonna say it. You find me an actor who can do that.

There are lots of people who are abused sexually in other ways and they don't kill their parents. To simplify it to its simplest degree, if a person is raped, man or woman, and she kills the man who raped her, is it an excuse that the reason she killed him is because she was raped? Of course not. I certainly never felt that what I did was justified or right. It was just a question of how wrong was it.

If you believe that they were sexually abused, does that lessen their responsibility for murder? But soon there's a big complication. Secret audio tapes are revealed that threaten to derail the brothers' defense. I'm gonna have to make something up. So you've got to be just as convincing. Oh yeah, which is no problem for me. After months of gut-wrenching testimony, the trial for Eric and Lyle Menendez finally wraps up, with both sides making their closing arguments to jurors.

You heard about some of the things that he liked to do to his little boy. This is not a hard case at all. This is what happened. These two people were sitting there watching television and they got slaughtered by their sons. At the end of the day, this trial came down to did you believe them? I remember thinking he's either the best actor in the world or this is a true story. These two terrorist parents

built two bombs that blew up and killed them. Jurors have told the jury they are unable to reach a verdict, hopelessly deadlocked. The seven-women, five-man panel sat through six months of trial, deliberated for 25 days. The court declares a mistrial. Yeah, that completes this hearing. I don't consider it a victory. A victory would be if my client were free. We never argued that child abuse is an excuse for murder. What we argued is child abuse

creates a terrible fear and that that fear in a certain set of circumstances can cause people to act because they feel they have no choice. It was divided 50/50 almost along gender lines. The women believed the Menendez brothers story, the men did not. The men on my jury did not buy the sexual abuse story. They thought that it either didn't happen or if it did happen the boys liked it.

because if they were teenage boys, why didn't they just leave? We are going to be trying the case a second time.

The second Menendez trial began just eight days after what is known as the verdict heard around the world. We, the jury, in the above entitled action, find the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder. He got away with murder, period. After the circus of the O.J. Simpson trial and also the circus of the first Menendez trial, there was a lot of effort done by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office to get the second trial right.

The second trial was totally different. There were no cameras in that courtroom. And the judge severely limited the heart of the defense, the claims of the abuse. Repeatedly, evidence was excluded that was admitted in the first trial. Witnesses were excluded that were admitted in the first trial. It was all about the sex abuse. All about the abuse, which was the cornerstone of their defense.

Another big change going into the second trial: the jury does not hear Lyle's powerful testimony, largely because of conversations he had with this woman, Norma Novelli. I just thought he was this guy in jail, an underdog. I always thought of him as a younger brother, you know, to be looked after.

Nivelli recorded over 25 tapes worth of jailhouse phone conversations with Lyle discussing his first trial, including concerns he had about the testimony of Dr. Jerome Aziel, that therapist who said the brothers confessed to him without ever mentioning sexual abuse. I'm going to have to make something up to show this guy's motive because sometimes people can lie too convincingly. So you've got to be just as convincing.

Nivelli would later turn these conversations into an unauthorized book using Lyle's words, keeping him off the stand at the second trial.

Lyle and Eric Menendez have been found guilty of murdering their parents. It took a second trial for the two to be convicted of murder in the first degree. The brothers barely reacted. Both slumped a little. Eric looked at a relative to say it would be okay and exchanged looks with his brother. We believe that most people in this county, perhaps even in this country, now believe murder.

that there was justice in this case. I feel we stuck true to the instructions. I was jury number 11. Was there sexual abuse? That wasn't a question. But what we all agreed on was that beyond a reasonable doubt, the defendants committed murder based on the elements that were presented to us. What went through your minds when you heard that verdict? First degree, murder, guilty. That I was going to spend the rest of my life in prison.

without any possibility of ever getting released. Did you think of suicide? Yes, I thought of suicide and the reason I didn't is because of what it would do to Lyle. If Lyle took his life, I would take my life the next day. It's important to you to stay together when you get moved to the state prison? Very important. That is what's gotten us through these six years and through our life.

The family that Eric and I grew up in, we had to be there for each other throughout, and it really created a bond that gets us through very rough periods. If we're not put in the same prison, there's a good probability I will never see him again. Some things that you cannot take, and there's some things that you can endure. With everything taken away, it would be the last, you know, it's the last thing you can take, and that would be very, very difficult to live through.

Today, the case of the brothers who brutally killed their parents is being viewed through a more evolved lens. We've seen Me Too, we've seen Time's Up. People are more willing to listen to victims today. And an old argument from the prosecution is getting a lot of new heat online. It's the people's position, first of all, that men cannot be raped.

By the time Lyle and Eric Menendez sat down for this revealing interview with Barbara Walters back in 1996, they had already spent more than six years in this building at the L.A. County Jail. How are you different than the man who came in here? A lot more mature. I came in here as an 18-year-old kid who didn't know anything. You've had a lot of therapy.

Six years of intense therapy. I learned what love was about because of my grandmother, because of all my relatives who didn't say, "I can't believe you did this." Instead they said, "Eric, I know who you are. You're not the type of person who could do this for no reason." Have you had therapy, Lyle? The same. The same therapy. And it really works to just have someone you can communicate with that's willing to listen. It almost sounds like prison was a good thing for you.

It was. It was? I mean, at first, I killed my parents and I spent six months out there in horrible agony because I had done this. And then suddenly you're arrested and everyone can know you did it and you can finally tell people and it's a relief. Lyle, you're looking at your brother like you almost never heard this before. Tell me how you felt. Emotionally, being in prison conditions was

Despite their conviction for a gruesome double murder, the Menendez brothers had no shortage of admirers from outside the jail walls.

Do either one of you have girlfriends? I do. I have someone who I love very much. Even though it's a very limited relationship because of where we are, the exchange of love and sharing, it keeps you in touch with yourself and softer. Otherwise, you can become very hard and cold in here. Eric? No, not at the moment.

Eric, you know that the prosecutor brought up the fact that you might have been a homosexual and that this might have caused some of the fury on your father's part. Yes, he did. The prosecutor brought that up because I was sexually molested and he felt that if I was sodomized by my father that I must have enjoyed it and therefore I must be gay. It was upsetting to hear.

But I'm not gay, but a lot of gay people write and feel connected to me. As the times have changed, so too have outdated attitudes towards sexual abuse. I have always thought that if the Menendez brothers were the Menendez sisters, they'd be free today. Would have been convicted, but an abuse victim often gets some kind of clemency. When you watched their testimony, what went through your mind?

My body got all shaky, my stomach was all nervous, and my eyes filled with tears, and I knew they had lived through it. Rosie told me that as a survivor of child sexual abuse herself, she connected with the brothers. You cannot fake it. It's a coat of shame no one wants to wear. You are either on one side or the other. I definitely want to know which side you're on. I just cannot stop thinking about this, and it is really eating at my brain.

We first looked at the TikTok movement to free the Menendez brothers back in 2021. They don't deserve to live the rest of their life in prison. This argument from the Menendez trial is now getting renewed attention online from a new generation. That's why people are just angry. That is not okay.

The explosion of interest in the Menendez brothers has been just fascinating to watch. Social media, TikTok, podcasts. You'll find the Menendez brothers and you'll find lots of people fascinated by them. Movie night. Free Menendez brothers. We've seen Me Too. We've seen Time's Up. People are more willing to listen to victims today.

In the 90s, many of the men jurors said to me, "A father would never do that to his sons." And I think now society has evolved that we believe that these things do happen to boys as well as girls. But the court of public opinion has limits. The founding fathers of this country had an idea about how awful things ought to be decided. And those awful things ought to be decided in the courts, not TikTok.

— The topic of male sexual abuse is something that is very, very important, but nobody should automatically believe a defense because they are emotionally impacted or sympathize with male victims of sexual abuse. — Lyle and Eric Menendez were initially sent to separate prisons, but were reunited at the same San Diego prison in 2018. They're now both married.

Barbara Walters spoke to Eric's wife Tammy in 2002. Why on earth would you change your whole life for Eric Menendez? He's the most sensitive, kind, I mean he's just, he's always there for me. I never had that before. You realize with all due respect that a lot of people think you're nuts? Oh yes. I've heard it before many times. If I just say to you why, what do you say? My answer to that is I fell in love with him, unexpectedly. Have you ever had sex with Eric?

No. We can hug and kiss on the way out and hold hands during the visit. And the holding of the hands during the visit is everything. I can't offer her most of the things that another husband can in terms of being with her physically. What I can offer her is unconditional and complete devotion and love. She is everything to me.

Lyle has also talked about the challenges of being a husband behind bars. I found I can have a healthy marriage that is complicated and built around conversation and finding creative ways to communicate and sharing without any of the props that are normally in marriage.

And now, more than 30 years after Eric and Lyle Menendez were sentenced to life in prison, no parole, evidence is coming to light that the brothers hope can help set them free. Three decades after those shocking murders, Lyle and Eric Menendez's case is getting renewed attention. Thanks to Ryan Murphy's wildly popular and controversial dramatization, Monsters, on Netflix.

The show has introduced the brothers to a whole new generation and has set social media abuzz with support. I'm just really hoping that the new evidence in the Menendez brothers case will be taken into account. This was like reality TV when it was on trial.

And now Kim Kardashian is using her fame to advocate for prison reform, supporting the brothers, writing, "We are all products of our own experiences. Time changes us, and I doubt anyone would claim to be the same person they were at 18."

- Kardashian even brought Cooper Koch to meet the brothers in person. He plays Eric Menendez in the Netflix drama, and the actor told Access Hollywood about the visit. - The first person I saw when I walked into this gymnasium was him. We like made eye contact and we just gave each other a big hug. And you know, they're very light. They're filled with light. - Kim Kardashian has visited the Menendez brothers. - Yeah, and I applaud Kim because this is what she loves to do.

Famed defense attorney Mark Garagos is now working with the brothers, who filed a habeas corpus brief, arguing there's newly submitted evidence in their case that the court never considered. The habeas is based on two things: a letter that was recovered that was written by Eric to his cousin Andy. That letter alluding to his father's abuse. That letter predates the killings by months.

As I've heard described, it's very explicit, very detailed. It is very detailed. Talks about his revulsion at what was happening and the idea that he had to go through this, that it sickened him. It's heart-wrenching to see.

The brothers' legal filing also includes a sworn affidavit from another alleged victim of Jose Menendez, a former member of the band Menudo, Roy Rossello, who worked with Jose and spoke out in a Peacock documentary. That's the man here that raped me, this guy. And why is the Menudo accusation so important? Well, they're twofold. Number one,

it was somebody who was not Lyle or Eric. That is huge. Number two, and the one thing I always thought was very moving about it is it happened at their house. That was the safe place for Jose. The Minuto star said that Jose molested him in that home. What do you think that demonstrates? I didn't have to have proof that the sexual abuse occurred. I already had it.

But to the world, the significance is now, oh, this does support Jose Menendez was a sexual predator, not only with his children, but with other people's children. Good afternoon. Just this month, a potential game changer. George Gascon, the Los Angeles County District Attorney, who's in a difficult fight for reelection, announced that he's reviewing the brothers' case with a new perspective.

Do you feel like the Menendez brothers' punishment fits the crime? Well, there are many different ways of looking at this, right? They clearly murdered their parents, and it was a brutal murder.

To which they confessed. To which they confessed. We don't just get to take people's lives, right? If in fact they were sexually molested, and then you look at their age, and you look at the totality of the circumstances, you have to wonder what would the right level of accountability be? Because they could have been easily being convicted of manslaughter instead of murder. And if that would have been the case, they would have been out many, many years ago.

The DA is now deciding whether to recommend that a judge re-sentence the brothers, which could result in them being released immediately with time served. And so what are the chances? You know, I'm working on it. I'm going through all the information.

It's far too easy to say, "Well, they claim they were sexually abused," or, "If they were, that means they've got to get out." There are nuances, and most importantly, this is the type of thing that needs to be sorted out in a courtroom. That's why we have legal process. And now the people closest to Lyle and Eric are rallying to get him released. It's time to recognize the injustice they've suffered and allow them the second chance they deserve. Now here we are.

both sides of the family united, sharing a new bond of hope. Hope that this 34-year nightmare will end and that we will be reunited as a family. Could this finally be the moment the brothers have been waiting for? It's going to be a long, hard... We still have a great hope for the future that maybe something will change.

And that long-sought change now seems very possible. Every abused kid knew they were telling the truth when they watched them. There are no actors in America who could do what those two young men did on the stand.

Rosie connected with the brothers and started visiting them regularly, even referring to herself as their big sister. When is it their time? When has justice been served? When can we as a society say, "We made a mistake and we'd like to change that"?

They have now served 35 years. In that 35 years that they have served in prison, they've been model prisoners. They have gotten college degrees. They have done palliative care. They've worked with guide dogs. They know everything about that prison and they've tried to change it and work for the better while they're inside. Tonight, a major show of support. Could they get a chance at freedom? We're here because we're in support.

and wanting to show the strength in numbers. This week, nearly 20 family members held an emotional press conference announcing their newly formed coalition, Justice for Eric and Lyle. If Lyle and Eric's case were heard today, there is no doubt in my mind that their sentencing would have been very different. And yet, despite their circumstances, they have chosen a life of light. Without hope of release, they persevered.

The truth is Lyle and Eric were failed by the very people who should have protected them. By their parents, by the system, by society at large. It's far...

too much punishment. They were punished just by being with that man all those years and having their mother ignore it. This is one of those things that people need to really think and they need to educate themselves before they take a strong position because otherwise we're not being fair to the victims of violent crime. Now all eyes are on the district attorney who released a statement that read in part, "We have heard the heartfelt pleas from the Menendez family.

Please know that our office is dedicated to a thorough and fair process and is exploring every avenue available to our office to ensure justice is served. If George Gascon recommends to the court to lower their sentences, the Menendez brothers, in theory, could be out of prison in a matter of weeks. My hope is to have them over for Thanksgiving dinner. You want the Menendez brothers home for Thanksgiving? Yeah.

You are often defined by a few moments of your life. But that's not who you are in your life. Your life is your totality of it. If you survive it, you're left having to explain it. And it's just, there's nothing possible to explain.

And we will, of course, continue to follow all of the breaking news in this fast-moving twist in this case. And you can see even more of Juju Chang's report on Hulu's impact by Nightline streaming right now. Thanks so much for watching. I'm Deborah Roberts. And I'm David Muir from all of us here at 2020 and ABC News. Good night.

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