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A Menendez Hollywood Ending

Thanks to Ryan Murphy and a Netflix docuseries, everyone is reconsidering the fate of the infamous brothers—including L.A. District Attorney George Gascón, who is in danger of being deposed in next Tuesday’s election.

Monsters menendez brothers netflix
Being a D.A. in L.A. means operating in a media fishbowl: One only has to look back to the original prosecution of the Menendez brothers, which resulted in a hung jury, an embarrassment to then-D.A. Gil Garcetti. Photo: Miles Crist/Courtesy of Netflix
Eriq Gardner
October 29, 2024

During my recent trip to Los Angeles, Lyle and Erik Menendez were all anyone wanted to talk about. The brothers, convicted in 1999 for the brutal murder of their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion, are now seen in a more sympathetic light, thanks largely to Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, and Alejandro Hartmann’s Netflix documentary, The Menendez Brothers, which explores the severe abuse they allegedly suffered at the hands of their father, José, a former RCA Records executive. Indeed, the question on everyone’s mind—from folks at CAA to Uber drivers to the brothers’ outspoken celebrity advocate, Kim Kardashian—was whether the Menendezes would be released. Last Thursday, over the objections of some L.A. prosecutors, L.A. District Attorney George Gascón announced plans to seek the brothers’ resentencing, a move that could—pending a judge’s approval—free the duo after decades in prison.