Kim Kardashian, Lyle Menendez Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images ; Ted Soqui/Sygma via Getty Images
Kim Kardashian shared in a personal essay to NBC News that she hopes convicted murderers “Erik and Lyle Menendez’s life sentences are reconsidered.”
In the essay, which was posted by the outlet on Thursday, October 3, Kardashian, an avid advocate for justice reform, stated that the two brothers “are not monsters” and that she believes they “were condemned before [their] trial even began.”
Kardashian, 43, recently spent time with Erik and Lyle, who are 53 and 56, respectively, and believes their case is “complex” after getting to know the pair personally.
The brothers were convicted of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty, in their Beverly Hills, California, home in 1989, when they were 18 and 21 years old. They were sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1996, following two trials.
Kardashian, who is pursuing her law degree after passing the “baby bar” in 2021 noted in her essay that the brothers acted in self-defense out of a result of “years of abuse and a real fear for their lives,” and noted she believed their trauma was compounded by how the media treated their case.
“Erik and Lyle’s case became entertainment for the nation, their suffering and stories of abuse ridiculed in skits on Saturday Night Live,” Kardashian wrote. “The media turned the brothers into monsters and sensationalized eye candy — two arrogant, rich kids from Beverly Hills who killed their parents out of greed. There was no room for empathy, let alone sympathy.”
Adding that the brothers’ claims of sexual abuse by their parents would have likely been taken far more seriously if they’d been girls — “public awareness of the trauma of male sexual abuse was minimal [at the time]” — Kardashian defended the two as “kind, intelligent, and honest men.”
“In prison, they both have exemplary disciplinary records,” she noted. “They have earned multiple college degrees, worked as caregivers for elderly incarcerated individuals in hospice, and been mentors in college programs — committed to giving back to others.”
“We owe it to those little boys who lost their childhoods, who never had a chance to be heard, helped, or saved,” she added.
“I don’t believe that spending their entire natural lives incarcerated was the right punishment for this complex case,” she continued. “Had this crime been committed and tried today, I believe the outcome would have been dramatically different.”
Kardashian paid a visit to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional facility on September 21, in order to give a talk about prison reform to inmates, which included Lyle and Erik, Variety reported at the time.
Kardashian visited the prison, which is close to San Diego, with actor Cooper Koch, who portrays Erik in Netflix’s new series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. Also in attendance for the visit were producer Scott Budnick, Kim’s mom, Kris Jenner, and sister Khloé Kardashian.
