Trigger Warning: This article discusses sexual abuse.
Following the release of the popular series Monsters and the true crime documentary The Menendez Brothers on Netflix, Erik and Lyle Menendez are back in the spotlight. A growing social media movement on TikTok is advocating for their release from prison, with support from celebrities like Kim Kardashian. The possibility of parole is now back on the table, with a District Attorney recently recommending the brothers be resentenced due to new evidence.
For those unfamiliar with the case, Erik and Lyle Menendez shot their parents, Jose and Kitty, in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989. At the time, Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18. After being tried twice, the brothers were sentenced to two consecutive life terms in 1996 following a jury’s guilty verdict. The key question has never been whether they committed the crime – they admit they did – but why they did it. The brothers and their defence argue they acted out of fear and in self-defence after enduring a lifetime of physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of their parents.
Yesterday morning on Mix102.3 Adelaide’s Max & Ali in the Morning, juror #9 from the brothers’ first trial, Hazel Thornton, shared her thoughts on the case and expressed her support for their release. Thornton believes the Menendez brothers should be granted parole, saying she would be “thrilled if they moved next door” to her.
Thornton served on the jury for Erik Menendez’s first trial, which lasted seven months, while Lyle’s jury was in the same courtroom. Here are some of the things she had to say about the case to Max and Ali on Mix 102.3:
“The prosecution maintained that they killed out of hatred and greed, and the defence maintained that they killed out of fear of their parents,” Thornton began.
“It took considerable testimony to make us understand how that was even possible that they were afraid of their parents. People talk about the sexual abuse a lot without considering there was also a fair amount of neglect, physical abuse, mental abuse, and emotional abuse.”
Upon joining the jury, Thornton recognised that “the reason we were there was not to determine whether they did it, but to figure out why, and therefore, what level of guilt.”
“It’s been 30 years. The longer the time goes by, the more I believe them. At the time, it was an academic exercise – do I believe the defence or do I believe the prosecution?”
“The defence presented so much more evidence that they had been abused, and they had so many more witnesses, and they had so many more expert witnesses explaining the psychology of abuse, and the development of a child’s brain that was not refuted by any prosecution witnesses…
“The fact remains I did believe them. I think everyone these days, 30 years later, who watches the court TV footage, doesn’t get what happened back then – they were obviously telling the truth.
“The second trial was engineered to guarantee murder verdicts, and the second trial jury had no choice but to convict them of murder.
“In my trial which was the first one… there were six men and six women. And it was a battle of the sexes – all of the women wanted to vote for manslaughter and did vote for manslaughter, and all of the men voted for murder.
“They just weren’t accepting that a boy could be molested by his father even though there was lots of evidence that supported it.”
When asked what she thinks will happen going forward, Thornton said: “Just recently, he [the District Attorney] had a press conference where he announced publicly that he was looking at the case, and that yes indeed, boys can be molested by their fathers, and things are different now, and sentencing may have been different had it occurred now.
“He enumerated all the ways in which they have rehabilitated themselves in prison, and would be an asset to society.
“Their family has also had a press conference calling for their release… the entire family is considered a victim because they’re related to, not just the imprisoned brothers, but Jose and Kitty, who were killed.
“I think there is a real shot at them going free after 35 years in prison.
“Kitty’s sister has told me that she would dearly love to see them out… she’s turning 93 and she would love to see them out.
When asked if she would be happy if the Menendez brothers were released from prison and moved in next door, Thornton said: “I would be thrilled if they moved next door to me. I don’t think that will happen, but I wouldn’t mind that a bit.”
Hazel Thornton has shared more about her experience as part of the jury in her book, Hung Jury: The Diary of a Menendez Juror.
For more information on Mix102.3’s Max & Ali in the Morning, click here.
More News
