The Menendez brothers, who killed their parents in a 1989 Beverly Hills living room ambush with shotguns, have a new shot at freedom after the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office recommended reduced sentences for them this week.
They had previously exhausted all appeals and have been serving sentences of life without the possibility of parole since their convictions in the 1990s.
A shift in public awareness of how sex abuse impacts male victims, renewed scrutiny after a series of documentaries and TV dramatizations, and purported new evidence in the case all played a role in DA George Gascon’s decision, the district attorney told reporters Thursday.
But now that they have a real shot at freedom, pop culture expert Perez Hilton says the recent release of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who pleaded guilty to taking part in the slaying of her abusive mother in 2016, may give a hint at what will happen next for the brothers. She became an overnight internet sensation after her release.
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Lyle Menendez, left, and his brother Erik pictured in their most recent mugshots, taken on Oct. 10, 2024. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)
Prospects for money
Calling himself “Perez-stradamus” in a nod to the French astrologer Nostradamus, Perez predicts that the brothers will have a chance to rake in money on day one.
Just by telling their own stories, he said – even though they’ve been stripped of their multimillion-dollar inheritances under a state law that bars killers from profiting off their victims’ demise.
“They will have a smart team of everyone they would possibly need – an agent, a manager or a publicist, a business manager,” Hilton told Fox News Digital. “They will set them up financially for the rest of their lives.”
Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez sit with defense attorney Leslie Abramson, right, in Beverly Hills Municipal Court during a hearing on Nov. 26, 1990. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
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The other side of that intense public interest in their case – is close scrutiny from paparazzi, Hilton predicted.
“It will be even more so than what we have seen the last few weeks and months following them around, guaranteed the paparazzi,” he told Fox News Digital. “There will be at least one or two photographers and videographers dedicated to them, wherever they end up in the United States.”
Exteriors of the Menendez brothers’ former mansion in 1989, showing the expansive pool. (Clark Fogg, retired Beverly Hills Police Department forensic specialist)
Love life
At least one brother may end up getting divorced, he predicted.
“Imagine that, like all of a sudden you’ve been locked in prison for 34 plus years, you married someone because you never thought you were going to get out – then all of a sudden you’re free,” Hilton told Fox News Digital. “You’re on social media. You quickly learn the ways of social media and, the thing is, even while in prison, they had women sending them letters. That’s how they met their wives. . . . Their DMS are going to be flooded.”
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Erik Menendez, left, and his brother Lyle, in front of their Beverly Hills home. They are prime suspects in their parents’ murders. (Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Public perception
The brothers have picked up a lot of support due to the recent attention brought to their case by streaming docuseries.
The same interest that could land them book deals and production contracts is going to get them paid, Hilton noted.
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“There is a lot of goodwill for the Menendez brothers, [but] people, not all of them, but a lot of people will turn on them,” he predicted.
An undated photo of the Menendez family as it appears on-screen during a panel at CrimeCon 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 2. The brothers Lyle and Erik were convicted of fatally shooting their parents in 1989. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
Buying a multimillion-dollar new home, or a flashy car could wind up rubbing people the wrong way, he said.
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However – unlike other disgraced Los Angeles residents, like OJ Simpson, Harvey Weinstein and, more recently, Sean “Diddy” Combs, the brothers can say that they were victims, too.
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Gypsy Rose Blanchard, 32, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2016, when she was 24, for her role in plotting to kill her abusive mother, Claudine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, in their Missouri home in 2015 with help from her then-boyfriend. She became an internet sensation overnight after her release from prison. (Lifetime/ A&E)
“None of those people are victims,” he said. “Gypsy Rose Blanchard is a victim, and that’s one of the reasons why she’s been able to monetize as well as she has, upon her release from prison.
“So I think the fact that it’s been documented, according to this new evidence and according to their testimony from decades ago and consistent through today, they’ve been victims that will help them continue to get a lot of empathy from people.”
If Los Angeles Judge William Ryan agrees with the reduced sentencing recommendation, the brothers will be eligible for parole.
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They still would have to get approval from the parole board and the governor before they could go free.
