Kris Jenner is another celebrity with a surprising connection to Erik and Lyle Menéndez.
During the newest episode of The Kardashians, which premiered on Thursday, February 6, Kim Kardashian brought Erik, 54, and Lyle, 57, up in reference to Ryan Murphy’s Monsters series, saying, “Ryan Murphy told me that his new series — like how he did Jeffrey Dahmer — is now going to be about the Menéndez brothers.”
Kris, 69, revealed that she had her own history with Erik and Lyle. “You know I knew those guys in the ’80s,” she noted. “I knew the kids because Erik used to come over and play tennis with your dad [Robert Kardashian] on the weekends.”
While discussing their case, Kim, 44, admitted that her perspective changed over the years.
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“I remember my dad talking about their case,” she explained. “The trial happened when I was 13 so there were big cases that I loved to talk to my dad about and this was one of them. Now I am older and seeing it from a different lens. Knowing what I know now about the system, I just have a whole different outlook on it.”
Erik, 54, and Lyle, 57, were arrested in 1990 on two counts of first-degree murder after their parents, Kitty and José Menéndez, were found dead in their home. The siblings later admitted to killing their parents following years of alleged physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
Their cases ended in mistrials in 1994 after the jury was unable to reach unanimous decisions. A retrial began in 1995, but most of the evidence surrounding the abuse couldn’t be used as a defense. Erik and Lyle — who were now being tried together — were ultimately found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole in 1996. They continue to appeal the decision but have been denied until October 2024.
During the Menéndez trial, Robert was an attorney for O.J. Simpson, who was named the primary suspect in his own murder case after his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were fatally stabbed outside of her home in Los Angeles in 1994. O.J. was ultimately acquitted on the murder charges in 1995 after a high-profile criminal trial but was found liable for Brown Simpson and Goldman’s deaths after their families sued him in a civil trial. The former athlete died of prostate cancer at age 76 in April 2024.
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The Menéndez brothers previously spoke about forming a friendship with O.J. when they were both behind bars.
“I told him I thought the public would understand,” Lyle shared in a 2018 interview. “I expressed my concern that [lawyer] Robert Shapiro wouldn’t let him tell the truth. I said I knew it obviously wasn’t planned and that he had snapped in the heat of passion.”
Erik, however, said O.J.’s verdict “had a very negative effect” on their case. He suggested in 2018’s The Menéndez Murders: Erik Tells All that the L.A. County District Attorney’s office needed a win after Simpson was acquitted.
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“Because this verdict was so shocking, there was this sense that an extreme injustice had happened and now we’re gonna have to right it with every defendant that comes up,” he noted. “We were the next defendant.”
While their prior attempts to appeal the decision were denied, recent high-profile TV projects such as Monsters, The Menéndez Brothers and more have seemingly offered Erik and Lyle a chance at freedom. In October 2024, the Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón recommended that a judge resentence Erik and Lyle to 50 years, which could make them eligible for parole and prison release.
Hulu releases new episodes of The Kardashians every Thursday.
