With a TV series now airing on Netflix about Erik and Lyle Menendez, the brothers who shot their wealthy parents to death in 1989 and are spending life in prison, their case has drawn new attention. On that list is Kim Kardashian, who's studying to become a lawyer. In an essay for NBC News, the 43-year-old criminal justice reform activist and reality TV star lays out the trial history of the Menendez siblings, which took place amid a media frenzy that "turned the brothers into monsters and sensationalized eye candy ... There was no room for empathy, let alone sympathy." Kardashian, however, says she has spent time with both men in prison and insists that "they are not monsters. They are kind, intelligent, and honest men" who've behaved during their nearly 30 years behind bars, earned college degrees, and even served as caregivers for elderly inmates.
Kardashian makes it clear that the murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez were "inexcusable," but she brings up the fact that both brothers have said they long endured physical, sexual, and emotional abuse at the hands of their parents, noting that "Erik and Lyle chose what they thought at the time was their only way out—an unimaginable way to escape their living nightmare." She points out that dozens of the brothers' relatives support their release. "We owe it to those little boys who lost their childhoods, who never had a chance to be heard, helped, or saved," Kardashian writes. Reuters, meanwhile, notes that authorities in Los Angeles are indeed taking a new look at the Menendez brothers' case, which could lead to a new trial and possibly even their release. Ryan Murphy, creator of the Netflix series about them, predicts they could be out by Christmas, per Variety. More from Kardashian here. (More Kim Kardashian stories.)
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