DON’T LET THE MENENDEZ KILLERS OUT!

A friend of mine recently wanted to have a discussion on the topic of if the Menendez brothers should be let out of prison, and we disagreed so vehemently that I decided it’s time to weigh-in on it here.

In case you’re the one person in the world who doesn’t know about the infamous murderers, the Menendez brothers, or just forgot because their case began so many decades ago, here’s the brief background on the situation: In 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez shot and killed their father and mother, Jose and Kitty, in cold blood in the family’s Beverly Hills living room while the parents watched TV. The boys claimed intruders did it, and then proceeded to live it up on their parents’ money for a while until the truth was discovered. (I’ll tell you how in a few minutes.)

After two trials, they’ve been in prison since 1996, having been sentenced to life with no possibility for parole, which most of us totally agree with for such heinous crimes.

Fast-forward to now, and, (although I don’t understand why,) they were recently re-sentenced, and might get out on parole this month!  I think that would be a disgrace.

First I’ll give you my friend’s arguments, and then share my own. He believes their claim that their father did sexually abuse them when they were younger. Period. That’s his argument. So, he feels that Jose deserved to be killed and his wife did, too, because she knew about the abuse and didn’t step in to protect her sons.

While I agree that the abuse is a genuine possibility, there doesn’t seem to be much proof of it, except for perhaps a letter one of the bros wrote to his cousin, (which was found several years after the trials,) and that a former member of the singing group Menudo, (whom Jose managed,) said the same thing happened to him. And if true, Jose definitely deserved to be imprisoned, (where perhaps he would have gotten a taste of his own medicine!)

BUT, killing their parents was not even close to the self-defense that they claimed it was!!! No one was abusing them right at the moment. The murders were wholly premeditated!!! The brothers went to another city to buy guns, for goodness sake! And the younger one, Erik, had even taken a friend’s ID to make sure he would be able to purchase the firearms. And then the brothers practiced with their new weapons at a shooting range.

And here’s the kicker: Lyle was twenty-one and already out of the house and in college, (so he wasn’t even around to be the subject of abuse at the time of the murders,) and Erik was eighteen, making him very capable of leaving the home and living elsewhere.

To my mind, they wanted their parents’ money. And to be rid of their rule. Period!

As promised, this is how the brothers got caught, with their real motive exposed: In post-crime sessions with his therapist, Erik confessed to the murders! And said their motive was wanting to be free of their controlling father who set standards that were too high for his sons! Lyle later joined in the confessions, and guess what? Neither of them ever mentioned sexual abuse. There are tapes of a bunch of their admissions.

On one of those tapes they told the therapist that their dad “deserved to die” for having an affair that upset their mother to the point of despair, and that they then killed their mother to “put her out of her misery.” Ri-ight.

And, oh yeah, there’s this little peccadillo: In high school, a few years before this horror show, Erik and a pal wrote a screenplay about a young guy who…kills his parents to inherit their money! Talk about prescient.

So I don’t care that many of Lyle and Erik’s relatives are politicking for their release. And I can’t understand why they’re doing that at all. I’m scratching my head over their motives. I just want evil murderers to stay in prison.

And oh, there’s a new little wrinkle on the topic.  Erik was recently admitted to a local hospital with what his very creepy attorney, Mark Geragos, described as a “serious medical condition.” So that might garner some sympathy for the murdering bros.

But definitely not from me! If they’re crazy enough to kill their own parents, who provided a life of major privilege for the boys, who’s to say what they’ll do to other people for money. I’m incredulous that so many of their relatives want Lyle and Erik out of prison. If the convicts do get out, I hope that one of their aunts or uncles will take them in. Then let’s see how much sleep those hosts will get!

There’s no doubt about the heinous crime the Menendez brothers committed, in definitely not self-defense. They need to serve their original sentence, and rot in prison for the rest of their lives. Dot, dash, end of story.