After visiting Erik and Lyle Menendez in prison, Kim Kardashian has penned an essay demanding the brothers be freed, after they were convicted of killing their parents in 1996.
“We are all products of our experiences. They shape who we were, who we are, and who we will be. Physiologically and psychologically, time changes us, and I doubt anyone would claim to be the same person they were at 18. I know I’m not!” Kardashian wrote in an essay for NBC News on Thursday.
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She continued: “You think you know the story of Lyle and Erik Menendez. I certainly thought I did: In 1989, the brothers, aged 21 and 18, respectively, viciously shot and killed their parents in their Beverly Hills home. In 1996, after two trials, they were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. As is often the case, this story is much more complex than it appears on the surface. Both brothers said they had been sexually, physically and emotionally abused for years by their parents. According to Lyle, the abuse started when he was just 6 years old, and Erik said he was raped by his father for more than a decade. Following years of abuse and a real fear for their lives, Erik and Lyle chose what they thought at the time was their only way out — an unimaginable way to escape their living nightmare.”
Kardashian’s essay came shortly after news that the brothers will get a court hearing in November after the Los Angeles District Attorney received new evidence that Jose Menendez allegedly molested his two sons. The new hearing may lead to a resentencing or retrial, though no decision has been made yet.
“I have spent time with Lyle and Erik; they are not monsters,” Kardashian wrote. “They are kind, intelligent, and honest men. In prison, they both have exemplary disciplinary records. 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. When I visited the prison three weeks ago, one of the wardens told me he would feel comfortable having them as neighbors. Twenty-four family members, including their parents’ siblings, have released statements fully supporting Lyle and Erik and have respectfully requested that the justice system free them.”
The renewed interest in the Menendez brothers’ trial comes after the Netflix true-crime series “Monsters” released in late September.
“With their case back in the spotlight — and considering the revelation of a 1988 letter from Erik to his cousin describing the abuse — my hope is that Erik and Lyle Menendez’s life sentences are reconsidered,” Kardashian wrote. “We owe it to those little boys who lost their childhoods, who never had a chance to be heard, helped or saved.”
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