KIM KARDASHIAN has paid a surprising visit to killer brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez, who murdered their parents to get their £10 million fortune, according to reports.
Lyle, 55 and Erik Menendez, 52, were arrested in 1990 for fatally shooting their beauty queen mother, known as Kitty, and music exec father Jose in their Beverly Hills mansion.
Greed had driven spoiled brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez to slaughter their parents in a bid to get their hands on their $14million (£10million) inheritance, prosecutors said.
But the boys claimed they killed in self-defence after years of sexual and emotional abuse by their controlling father Jose.
In the months after the murders, neither of the brothers acted like grieving boys who had found their parents brutally slain in pools of their own blood.
Instead, they went on a spending spree with 21-year-old Lyle snapping up a Porsche, a Rolex watch and a restaurant and 18-year-old Erik treating himself to a Jeep Wrangler and a private tennis coach.
After seven years and three trials, televised to millions, the brothers were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
Erik and Lyle could now use the alleged abuse claims as a way to be re-tried as their lawyers scrambled to get them back in court.
Kim met with the convicted murderers at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego, alongside sister Khloé and mum Kris, TMZ reported on Saturday.
A source told the outlet the business mogul spoke with a group of about 40 prisoners about her continued commitment to criminal justice reform.
The meeting took place after Erik vented his disapproval of Kim’s pal Ryan Murphy, and his Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which dramatises their lives.
Notably, actor Cooper Koch – who plays Erik in the drama series – was also present at the jail visit.
Netflix drama revisits Menendez brothers’ brutal murders-Netflix
According to the TMZ insider, a major subject of conversation was Greenspace, Lyle’s effort that aims to improve prison yards in order to promote rehabilitation.
The meeting’s details emerged after it was disclosed that Erik posted his opinions about the miniseries on Lyle’s Facebook page, criticising Murphy for what he considered to be the show’s “horrible” and “blatant lies.”
The convicted killer wrote in a lengthy post: “I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show.
“I can only believe they were done so on purpose.
“It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent.”
The killer brothers are both currently serving life sentences, but their attorneys are said to be “cautiously optimistic” about the brother’s potential release.
In May 2023, they filed for a new trial after new evidence emerged, including a letter from Erik to his cousin revealing his parents’ alleged abuse.
Other evidence included sexual abuse allegations against their father by Roy Rossello, ex-member of Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, who claimed Jose raped him in the 1980s.
But Neama Rahmani, a defence lawyer in Los Angeles, told People that although “it was tragic the brothers were abused,” it is “highly unlikely” that they will be freed.
“It’s a Hail Mary type argument,” he declared.
“This isn’t enough, in my opinion.
“A corroborating note or the fact that a victim abused someone else, this is not the type of evidence that typically results in a habeas petition being granted.”
Also speaking to People, the killers’ post-conviction attorney Mark Geragos said: “Nobody had looked at [the cousin’s personal] effects until 2015, and that’s when it was found, 10 years after our last appeal.”
He claimed that the brothers’ second trial had breached their constitutional rights and that a new trial was necessary in light of the new evidence, which included Erik’s letter and the Menudo accuser.
Geragos also said the judge could choose to reject the petition, direct the prosecution to reply, or provide an unofficial response.
For the past fifteen months, the prosecution has been considering the option that the court selected.
Timeline of the Menendez brothers case
Erik and Lyle Menendez are serving life sentences in prison after being found guilty of shooting their parents to death over 30 years ago.
August 20, 1989 – José and Kitty Menendez are shot to death
March 8, 1990 – Lyle is arrested for the murders
March 11, 1990 – Erik turns himself in
July 20, 1993 – Highly publicized trial begins and ends weeks later in a mistrial
October 11, 1995 – Second trial begins
March 20, 1996 – Menendez brothers are convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder
July 2, 1996 – Menendez brothers are sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and sent to separate prisons
February 2018 – Lyle is transferred to the San Diego prison where Erik is held
April 4, 2018 – Erik and Lyle are reunited
May 2023 – Attorney representing the Menendez brothers files a habeas petition
September 19, 2024 – Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story comes out on Netflix
According to Geragos, the defence team for the brothers has interviewed 24 relatives who have asked for a re-sentencing and performed a conditional examination of Kitty’s older sister.
For the court’s consideration, they have additionally provided extra paperwork and proof.
Geragos also argued that the outcome would be significantly different if the case were to be retried today.
He said: “I tried this case today, 99 times out of 100, it’s a voluntary manslaughter.
“Twenty years, 30 years, the culture moves, and I think more enlightened or evolved, and people start to realise that maybe there was a feeding frenzy at the time, and on a more sober reflection, that they didn’t get a fair trial.”
