The rising push to free the Menendez brothers has left their former prosecutor surprised.
Though her efforts throughout the 1993 trial famously resulted in a hung jury, Pamela Bozanich reminded viewers in Netflix’s new documentary “The Menendez Brothers” that Lyle and Erik Menendez finally had been convicted of killing their mother and father — and in addition warned doubtlessly violent skeptics to not attempt her.
“The only reason we’re doing this special is because of the TikTok movement to free the Menendi,” Bozanich says towards the top of the documentary, which was launched Monday. “If that’s how we’re gonna try cases now, why don’t we just, like, have a poll?”
“You present the facts, everybody gets to vote on TikTok, and then we decide who gets to go home,” she continues. “Your beliefs are not facts. They’re just beliefs. And by the way, all you TikTok people, I’m armed. We got guns all over the house. So don’t mess with me.”
Bozanich’s feedback spurred backlash on X, previously known as Twitter, from individuals who known as her “a horrible person” for utilizing “her 15 minutes of fame” to threaten TikTok customers for supporting the siblings. (A seek for “free the Menendez brothers” on TikTok spawns thousands and thousands of outcomes.)
The brothers have maintained since their first trial that they killed their mother and father, José and Kitty Menendez, in self-defense and in worry for his or her lives after years of bodily, sexual and emotional abuse. The proceedings spawned untold media consideration — and a retrial in 1995.
They had been in the end convicted on two counts of first-degree homicide with particular circumstances for mendacity in wait, in addition to conspiracy to homicide.
The case has had a resurgence not too long ago due to the documentary and Ryan Murphy’s high-octane Netflix collection concerning the brothers. Following the collection’ launch, Kim Kardashian used her standing as an advocate for prison justice reform to fulfill with them.
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Murphy’s nine-episode drama, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” stars Oscar winner Javier Bardem as José Menendez and Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch as Lyle and Erik Menendez, respectively. It was notably slammed from behind bars by Erik Menendez himself as “slander.”
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As for the documentary, which was directed by Alejandro Hartmann, it delivers intriguing nuance and incorporates new jail interviews with each siblings, together with Erik Menendez talking on his mother and father’ killing.
“There should have been a police response,” he admits within the documentary. “We would have been arrested. We had no alibi. Gunpowder residue was all over our hands. Under normal circumstances, they give you a gunpowder residue test. We would have been arrested immediately.”
On Thursday, Los Angeles District Lawyer George Gascon introduced that his workplace is reviewing the brothers’ case. A listening to on their petition to have their conviction vacated as a consequence of new proof is at the moment scheduled for Nov. 29.
