A NEW two-hour special on the Menendez brothers case has been announced, due to air this Friday.
The broadcast, featuring never-before-aired experts from a 2017 interview with Lyle Menendez, comes as calls grow for the siblings to be released after 35 years.
Dateline NBC will air the two-hour special this Friday, November 8, at 9 pm eastern time, including all the latest developments from the brothers’ case.
The episode will feature interviews with key players in the case, including unseen excerpts from a Dateline interview with Lyle seven years ago.
Erik Menendez, 56, and his younger brother Lyle, 53, are both serving life in prison for the murders of their parents, Jose and Mary Louise Menendez, at their home in Beverly Hills in 1989.
The brothers have never denied killing their parents, but say they were acting in self-defense after years of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse.
In May last year, the brothers requested a new hearing based on an allegation their father had raped a young Latino popstar, Roy Rosselo, who at the time was signed to RCA Records, where Jose Menendez worked.
The appeal cites a letter apparently written by Erik to his cousin in 1988 detailing the abuse, which allegedly happened at the Menendez family home in New Jersey.
Last month, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced that he will ask a judge to reconsider resentencing the brothers.
A resentencing trial is scheduled to begin on December 11, 2024.
Depending on how quickly the process moves, the brothers could be released within the next 30-45 days.
Nearly 30 years after Lyle and Erik Menendez were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, their case reemerged in the spotlight following the release of the 2023 docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed and the Netflix series Monsters in September.
The case picked up pressure following the release of Ryan Murphy‘s Netflix series, which garnered over 12.3 million views in its first weekend release.
The Netflix show presented the murders through different perspectives as it explored what might have led Lyle and Erik to kill their parents.
The show dramatized the alleged sexual abuse the brothers suffered at the hands of their father.
Timeline of the Menendez brothers case
Erik and Lyle Menendez have been serving a life imprisonment sentence without the possibility of parole since July 1996.
The brothers were convicted of shooting their parents to death in their Beverly Hills home in August 1989.
Timeline:
August 20, 1989 – José and Kitty Menendez are found dead from multiple shotgun wounds.
March 8, 1990 – Lyle is arrested outside his parents’ Beverly Hills mansion.
March 11, 1990 – Erik turns himself in to police after flying back into Los Angeles from Israel.
July 20, 1993 – The highly publicized trial of Lyle and Erik begins and ends weeks later in a mistrial.
October 11, 1995 – Lyle and Erik’s second trial begins.
March 20, 1996 – The Menendez brothers are convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
July 2, 1996 – Lyle and Erik 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 – Lyle was moved into the same housing unit as Erik – the first time the brothers were reunited in over 20 years.
May 2023 – The attorney representing Lyle and Erik files a habeas petition after Roy Rosselló, a member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, made sexual abuse allegations against Jose Menendez.
September 19, 2024 – Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story releases on Netflix.
October 3, 2024: Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said his office was reviewing new evidence in connection with Lyle and Erik’s convictions.
October 7, 2024 – The Menendez Brothers documentary film comes out on Netflix.
October 16, 2024 – Family members of the Menendez brothers hold a press conference begging for the siblings to be released from prison.
October 24, 2024 – Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón recommends the brothers be resentenced.
December 11, 2024 – The Menendez brothers are set to go before a judge in a scheduled hearing.
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