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The Menendez brothers have regained attention recently, first with Ryan Murphy’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and now with the release of their own documentary, The Menendez Brothers, on Netflix on October 7, 2024. The brothers were sentenced to life without parole after the 1989 murders of their parents, José and Kitty Menendez. Their case was highly publicized throughout the ’90s, following a mistrial in 1993 and their conviction in 1996.
Erik Menendez’s attorney, Leslie Abramson, played a key role in their defense. Abramson argued that the murders were acts of self-defense, as Lyle and Erik claimed they had been abused throughout their childhood by both parents. “I’ve represented people charged with murder for 27 years, and these guys just don’t measure up to anybody else I’ve ever represented,” Abramson told The Washington Post in 1996. “These are not murderers. These are troubled kids in a very difficult and grotesque home environment, and they …