Princess Weekes | The Menedez Brothers Case and the Changing Perceptions of Child Abuse @Princess_Weekes | Uploaded 1 year ago | Updated 10 hours ago
In the 90s, several televised trials/cases became part of the public imagination and heavily impacted how modern true crime looks. OJ Simpson, Tonya Harding, Lorena Bobett, and the Menéndez Brothers.

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All of these have been examined and re-examined in the past decade. Most recently, the Menéndez Brothers, who were mocked for their claims of childhood abuse.

In 1996, brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez were found guilty of the 1989 murder of their parents, Jose and Mary "Kitty" Menendez. They were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Due to their actions before and during the trial, the brothers were heavily parodied and mocked—especially Lyle for wearing a hairpiece. At trial, as part of their defense, the brothers expressed being emotionally, physically, and sexually abused by their father and feared for their lives.

The prosecution argued they did it for money, and their claims of sexual abuse were treated as a lie. For as long as I've heard about the Menéndez Brothers in many of the True Crime podcasts I've listened to, the narrative has always been: they were liars—the original "affluenza" brothers.

Except, due to new evidence, this might not be the case. And what I think is interesting about this new evidence is not so much the gotcha of the "culture got it wrong" but what is the responsibility while it is being unfolded. How do we deal with something that was assumed correct for decades now having a new reality?

Table of Contents:

00:00 Start
02:22 Housekeeping
04:24 Nebula
06:25 Revisiting the Menendez Story
34:42 Credits

Sources:

The Menendez Murders: The Shocking Untold Story of the Menendez Family and the Killings that Stunned the Nation by Robert Rand

Popular Crime: Reflections on the Celebration of Violence by Bill James

abcnews.go.com/US/lyle-erik-menendezs-cousin-testified-sexual-abuse-speaks/story?id=44420173
nytimes.com/2023/04/18/arts/television/menendez-brothers-menudo-roy-rossello-documentary.html
variety.com/2023/tv/news/monster-season-2-menendez-brothers-1235599246
biography.com/crime/menendez-brothers-murder-case-facts
latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-03/menendez-brothers-seek-overturn-convictions-cite-documentary#:~:text=Erik%20and%20Lyle%20Menendez%2C%20the,former%20underage%20member%20of%20Menudo.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyle_and_Erik_Menéndez#Parody_and_dark_comedy
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menudo_(group)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stacey_Lannert
12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fcalifornia%2Fstory%2F2023-07-17%2Fmenendez-brothers-vacate-convictions-new-hearing-evidence