Kim Kardashian supports the release of the imprisoned Menendez brothers: “They are not monsters”

Kim Kardashian supports the Menendez brothers in a personal essay shared with NBC News on Thursday, writing that “I spent time with Lyle and Eric; They are not monsters.”

Kardashian, a reality star and entrepreneur who uses her celebrity platform to advocate for inmates on criminal justice issues, believes Lyle and Erik Menendez were treated unfairly by prosecutors and the media. The brothers, who were convicted of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty, in their home in Beverly Hills, California, “were convicted before the trial even began,” he writes.

On Thursday, the Los Angeles County district attorney said his office would review possible evidence to determine whether the brothers should be held in contempt and possibly fired, officials said Thursday.

Erik Menendez was 18 and Lyle Menendez 21 when their parents were fatally shot in 1989.

“I hope that the life sentences of Erik and Lyle Menendez will be reconsidered,” Kardashian says.

“We owe it to these little boys who lost their childhood, who never had a chance to be heard, helped and saved,” he adds.

The Los Angeles County district attorney said on Thursday that his office had an obligation to review the evidence to determine whether the brothers should be held in contempt and possibly fired, officials said Thursday.

The brothers’ case has gained renewed attention thanks to the Netflix biographical series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” and their lives will be the subject of the upcoming Netflix documentary “The Menendez Brothers.”

Last month, Kardashian met with the brothers when she spoke to inmates at a California prison near San Diego about prison reform. She was joined by actor Cooper Koch, who plays Erik Menendez on the Netflix series.

Erik Menendez, now 53, previously slammed the Netflix series’ dramatic portrayal of his and his brothers’ lives as “blatant lies” and accused series creator Ryan Murphy of deliberately creating a caricature of 56-year-old Lyle Menendez.

During their first televised trial in 1993, the brothers testified that their father, a record company executive, had sexually abused them for years and that they had acted in self-defense out of fear and long-term trauma. But prosecutors said they murdered their parents to inherit the money and went on a spending spree.

The first trial ended with a hung jury. When the brothers’ joint trial resumed in 1995, most of their molestation allegations were found inadmissible in court. They were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Kardashian admitted in her essay that the brothers’ crimes “cannot be excused” and that their behavior after the murders was the same.

However, she said, resources for victims of sexual abuse, especially boys, were limited at the time.

“I don’t think spending the rest of my life in prison was the appropriate punishment in this complex case. If this crime were committed and tried today, I believe the outcome would be completely different,” he writes.

The brothers’ lawyers are trying to challenge the prison sentence based on evidence that was not known at the trial.

Kardashian has long been a supporter of criminal justice reform. In April, she joined Vice President Kamala Harris for a White House roundtable with four people whom President Joe Biden pardoned earlier this week for nonviolent drug crimes.

Kardashian also visited the White House many times during former President Donald Trump’s administration, including: in 2018, when she lobbied for the release of Alice Marie Johnson, who was serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug crime. Trump commuted Johnson’s sentence just days after the meeting.

In 2019, Kardashian said she was studying to get a law degree.