Netflix Monsters: Over 325,000 people sign petition to free Lyle and Erik Menendez from prison

28 September 2024, 15:57

Netflix Monsters: Over 300,000 people sign petition to free Lyle and Erik Menendez from prison. Picture: Netflix, MIKE NELSON/AFP via Getty Images

By Sam Prance

Following the release of Netflix's Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, people are petitioning for the Menendez brothers to get a court appeal.

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[TRIGGER WARNING: This article contains details about sexual assault and abuse.]

Over 325,000 people have signed a petition for Lyle and Erik Menendez to have a retrial and be released from prison.

Netflix's Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story has brought newfound attention to the controversial case of the Menendez brothers. In 1989, Lyle Menendez and Erik Menendez murdered their parents and were later sentenced to life in prison. Both Lyle and Erik claimed during their case that they were victims of parental sexual abuse.

In the wake of Lyle and Erik's imprisonment, people have argued that the Menendez brothers deserve a retrial and an appeal based on the abuse they allegedly experienced. Now, a petition to free them both from prison is going viral.

Read more: Are Lyle and Erik Menendez in the same prison? Netflix ending leaves out 2024 update

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story trailer

In 2019, a woman named Micailla Beachman set up a Change.org petition titled: "Appeal for Menendez Brothers."

The petition calls for Lyle and Erik Menendez receive an appeal based on a California bill that "allows incarcerated people, convicted of crimes related to their experiences of being abused, to submit a petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging their original convictions."

At the time Micailla published the petition, thousands of people signed it. Now, following the release of Netflix's Monsters series, that number has skyrocketed to over 325,000 with many people suggesting that the brothers shouldn't even be prison anymore.

In one comment under the petition someone wrote: "Child sexual abuse is a disgusting, heinous and inexcusable crime. I feel the Menendez brothers deserve a chance to be heard.

Another added: "It's heartbreaking that our justice system has done this to these brothers. I can't even put into words how completely wrong this entire situation is."

As it stands, there's no update on the Mendez brothers receiving a retrial or being released from prison. However, in April 2023, former Menudo boy band member Roy Rosselló claimed that Lyle and Erik's father José Menendez drugged and raped him when he was just 14 years old.

Following Roy's claims, Erik and Lyle's attorneys have filed a new petition for them to receive an appeal but, as of right now, they remain in prison.