Fact-Checking ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’: Fact v Fiction.
The new Netflix documentary titled, ‘The Menendez Brothers” features interviews with Erik and Lyle ‘in their own words’. Released on Netflix, Oct. 7, the two-hour documentary hears from the brothers as they revisit the trial that shocked the nation via extensive phone interviews. Directed by Alejandro Hartmann the documentary revisits the case nearly 30 years after being convicted of killing their wealth parents.
Lawyer Monthly revisited the Netflix hit ‘Monsters’ The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story featuring Javier Bardem, Chloë Sevigny, Cooper Koch to do some fact checking. Here’s what we found out..
INCEST CLAIMS
The main point of contention revolves around how the show portrays the relationship between the siblings as incestuous. In one scene, Lyle and Erik share a kiss, and Lyle even puts his thumb in Erik’s mouth after using cocaine.
There’s a fantasy moment where Kitty discovers them showering together. Both brothers have stated they never had a sexual relationship. Lyle mentioned in court that when he was 8, he abused Erik in the woods with a toothbrush, which he claims was something José had done to him. Robert Rand, who wrote “The Menendez Murders: The Shocking Untold Story of the Menendez Family and the Killings that Stunned the Nation,” argues that this shouldn’t be labeled as a sexual relationship but rather a reaction to trauma.
The show also takes some creative liberties. For instance, Kitty is shown as an enabler, while the brothers have accused her of being abusive in real life. José didn’t confront his sons directly before they killed him; he was shot from behind at close range. The scenes where the brothers are trying to establish an alibi are fictionalized. There are also discrepancies in how the show presents the timeline of their confessions and jail experiences.
The portrayal of their trials is off, too. After two televised mistrials with different juries, the brothers were tried together with one jury, but the judge restricted testimony about their abuse claims, leading to a guilty verdict.
That guilty verdict might be challenged now. In 2023, lawyers submitted petitions to overturn the brothers’ sentences, pointing to two new pieces of evidence that support Lyle and Erik’s claims of self-defense. One is an accusation from Roy Rosselló, a former Menudo member, who claims José raped him as a teenager.
The other is a letter discovered in 2018, written by Erik to a cousin months before the murders, detailing his father’s abuse. Author Rand believes that if the Menendez trials were held today, the outcome would likely be different.
THE SPENDING SPREE
After the murders, the Menendez brothers, portrayed by Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch in “Monsters,” checked into the Hotel Bel Air for just a few days. They hopped around several upscale hotels in the area before finally moving into neighboring condos in Marina Del Rey. This was all part of their extravagant spending spree, which featured limousines, bodyguards, luxury cars, and fancy watches, racking up a staggering total of about $700,000 (which is nearly $1.5 million today when you factor in inflation).
Related: The Menendez Brothers’ Money
THE MULTIPLE TRIALS
“Monsters” showcases the two trials involving Erik and Lyle, with the first round featuring separate trials for each brother, leading to two hung juries. It’s quite a dramatic situation, and “Monsters” highlights that the jury’s opinions were influenced by gender. The men leaned towards a guilty verdict, while the women sided with not guilty, largely due to the testimonies surrounding sexual assault. The film also shows Abramson inviting the female jurors to her home after the trial.
The brothers were decided to be tried together again. In the show, it shows that during this second trial, they intentionally restricted the testimony regarding the abuse and considered the evidence lacking. The jurors were only allowed to convict for murder, not manslaughter, which meant that any decision made by the judge would carry a heavier penalty.
THE ROOMMATE
Lyle Menendez’s college buddy, Donovan Goodreau, did testify during the first trial. He mentioned that when he talked about his own experiences with childhood sexual abuse, Lyle didn’t relate or share anything similar. This is a stark contrast to what Anthony Turpel’s version of Donovan says to the lawyer in “Monsters.” However, in an earlier interview, Donovan did mention hearing about José abusing Lyle, and those recordings ended up in court, which really hurt the witness’s credibility.
NORMA
In “Monsters,” we see a phone relationship unfold between Lyle and a woman named Norma Novelli (Natalie Taylor Gray), as they plan to collaborate on a book about his life. However, things take a turn when Norma records their conversations and leaks the tapes, causing major chaos in the legal proceedings. As a result, Lyle is prevented from testifying in the second trial, and his lawyer, Jill Lansing (Jess Weixler), ends up quitting.
While Norma did indeed record her chats with Lyle Menendez and sold them without his permission, it was ultimately Lyle who chose not to testify afterward. There’s a lot more going on in the brothers’ lives and trials, making Norma just a minor detail in most narratives. In “The Menendez Brothers,” Lyle mentions that their recordings couldn’t be used in court because he had concerns about the judge.
Related: Menendez Brothers Timeline of Events
LEGAL REVIEW & RELEASE
A new law in California allows defendants who were convicted without being able to show evidence of physical or sexual abuse in their defense to potentially appeal their cases. In 2018, a letter from 1988 written by Erik to his cousin was discovered in storage, where Erik expressed his fear of his father and mentioned, “It’s still happening.” Both brothers are currently serving life sentences without the chance of parole, but they have submitted a habeas petition to challenge their convictions based on this new evidence.