Erik Menendez's Attorney Speaks Out on Ryan Murphy's Monsters Show
Erik Menendez’s longtime attorney is speaking out amid the success of Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix drama.
While Leslie Abramson—who represented Erik in the 1990s when he and his brother, Lyle Menendez, were tried for the 1989 murder of their parents—is depicted as one of the brothers’ most staunch defenders in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, the retired defense attorney revealed she had no desire to watch the series.
“That piece of s--t I heard about? No,” she said in a video published by Entertainment Tonight Oct. 9. “I don’t watch any of those.”
“I will make no comments about my client,” she added. “None whatsoever.”
The 81-year-old—who is played by Ari Graynor in the anthology series—said she also opted not to watch the previous dramatization of the case, 2017’s Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders, in which she’s portrayed by Edie Falco. (The actress later received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for the role.)
Leslie did, however, give a written statement about the brothers—who are both serving life sentences without parole—in the new documentary The Menendez Brothers, also streaming on Netflix.
“30 years is a long time,” she said in an email shown in the doc. “I’d like to leave the past in the past. No amount of media, nor teenage petitions will alter the fate of these clients. Only the court can do that and they have ruled.”
The release of Monsters helped fuel renewed interest in the brothers’ case, as social media users have called for their convictions to be overturned. Most recently, they’ve zeroed in on the emergence of potential new evidence which could support the brothers’ allegation of physical and sexual abuse by their father, José Menendez.
Kim Kardashian, who visited the Menendezes at their San Diego prison in September, wrote in an essay published by NBC News that the brothers deserve a new trial.
“I have spent time with Lyle and Erik; they are not monsters,” the Kardashians star said in the op-ed. “They are kind, intelligent, and honest men.”
“I don’t believe that spending their entire natural lives incarcerated was the right punishment for this complex case,” she added. “Had this crime been committed and trialed today, I believe the outcome would have been dramatically different.”
Cooper Koch, who played the role of Erik in Monsters and accompanied Kim on her visit, also spoke out in support of the brothers.
“They committed the crime when they were 18 and 21 years old,” he told Variety last month, “and at the time, it was really hard for people to believe that male-on-male sexual abuse could occur, especially with father and son.”
He continued, “I really do hope that they are able to get paroled and have an amazing rest of their lives.”
E! News has reached out to lawyers for Erik and Lyle Menendez for comment but hasn’t heard back.
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