Tonight Saturday (March 2, 2024) “CBS 48 Hours” Lyle Menendez Tells Natalie Morales: “There’s Just Never Been a Case of Guilt or Innocence. It Was Always About Why It Happened”
The March 2 2024 edition of “CBS 48 Hours” starts at 10PM ET/PT on CBS. Lyle and Erik Menendez have already spent nearly 34 years behind bars for gunning down their parents in 1989. Now they’re awaiting a judge’s decision on whether new evidence can support their claim that they killed in self-defense and should have been convicted of manslaughter instead of murder. Lyle Menendez gives his side of the story to contributor Natalie Morales from prison in 48 HOURS: “The Menendez Brothers’ Fight for Freedom”
In a case that captured worldwide attention, the Menendez brothers were tried and convicted of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. The couple was shot to death in their Beverly Hills mansion on Aug. 20, 1989.
At first, Lyle and Erik weren’t even on investigators’ radar. They later confessed to the killings in therapy. When the brothers went on trial, they claimed that they killed in self-defense after a lifetime of physical, emotional and sexual abuse suffered at the hands of their parents.
“There’s just never been a case of guilt or innocence,” Lyle Menendez tells Morales. “It was always about why it happened.”
Prosecutors pointed out that when the brothers confessed in therapy, they did not mention abuse or self-defense. Lyle Menendez tells 48 HOURS the reason they didn’t come forward at the time was complicated.
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