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In a personal essay, she said the outsized media attention on the first trial that was nationally televised denied them justice.
LOS ANGELES (KABC) —ย Kim Kardashian, who has advocated for criminal justice reform, is calling for the release of Erik and Lyle Menendez as prosecutors in Los Angeles announced they would be reviewing new evidence in the case.
In a personal essay, the reality TV star said the outsized media attention on the first trial that was nationally televised denied them justice. She said she met with the brothers last month when she gave a talk on prison reform in a state prison near San Diego.
She noted with “their suffering and stories of abuse ridiculed in skits on ‘Saturday Night Live’” that they were painted as “two arrogant, rich kids from Beverly Hills who ๐๐พ๐๐ed their parents out of greed. There was no room for empathy, let alone sympathy.”
“Erik and Lyle had no chance of a fair trial against this backdrop,” Kardashian wrote.
Last week, L.A. County District Attorney George Gascรณn said his office would be reviewing new evidence to determine whether the brothers should be serving life sentences for ๐๐พ๐๐ing their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion more than 35 years ago.
Gascรณn said during a news conference that there is no question Erik Menendez, 53, and his 56-year-old brother, Lyle Menendez, committed the murders, but his office will be reviewing new evidence and will make a decision on whether a resentencing is warranted in the notorious case that captured national attention.
The new evidence presented in a petition includes a letter written by Erik Menendez that his attorneys say corroborates the allegations that he was ๐โฏ๐ually abused by his father.
The brothers have said they ๐๐พ๐๐ed their parents out of self-defense after enduring a lifetime of physical, emotional and ๐โฏ๐ual abuse from them. Their attorneys argue that because of society’s changing views on ๐โฏ๐ual abuse, that the brothers may not have been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole today.
Bryan Freedman, the extended family’s lawyers, said they strongly support the brothers’ release.
“She wishes nothing more than for them to be released,” Freedman said of Joan VanderMolen, the brothers’ aunt.
The brothers’ attorneys said the family believed from the beginning they should have been charged with manslaughter rather than murder.
Manslaughter was not an option for the jury during the second trial that ultimately led to the brothers’ murder conviction, attorney Mark Geragos said.
Lyle Menendez, who was then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, admitted they fatally shot-gunned their entertainment executive father Jose Menendez and their mother, Kitty Menendez, in 1989 but said they feared their parents were about to ๐๐พ๐๐ them to prevent the disclosure of the father’s long-term ๐โฏ๐ual molestation of Erik.
Prosecutors at the time contended there was no evidence of any molestation. They said the sons were after their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate.
