Kris Jenner reveals Kardashians' surprise connection to Menendez brothers

Kris Jenner has revealed a connection to the Menendez brothers that goes back to even before Kim Kardashian began advocating for the jailed brothers’ freedom. In the season six premiere of reality show The Kardashians, Kris, 69, told of how her late ex-husband, Robert Kardashian, personally knew Erik Menendez. With her mother and sisters Kourtney Kardashian and Kendall Jenner, Kim discussed hearing about Ryan Murphy’s Monsters series.

After the second of two publicised trials, one of which was televised, the Menendez brothers, Lyle and Erik, were convicted in 1996 of first-degree murder. They were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989. Recent years have seen them begin their bid for freedom, after evidence of their father’s sexual abuse re-emerged in their case.

On The Kardashians, Kim speaks about the brothers and Monsters series which landed on Netflix last year and brought about renewed interest of the case, before Kris exclaims: “Oh my God. You know I knew those guys in the '80s.”. Kourtney questioned whether Kris knew the brothers' parents, to which her mum responded she wasn’t personally acquainted with them. She said: “I knew the kids because Erik used to come over and play tennis with your dad on the weekends.”.

Kim then chimed in about how she recalled her late dad, attorney Mr Kardashian, speaking about the case when she was growing up in Beverly Hills. The reality TV star continued: “The trial, I think, happened when I was, like, 13, so there were big cases that I would love to talk to my dad about and so this was one of them. “Now, being older and seeing it from a different lens, 35 years later, and knowing what I know now about the system, I just have a whole different outlook on it.”.

Kim, who has advocated for criminal justice reform, has been a vocal supporter of the brothers. Both brothers were initially tried individually. Despite giving evidence of how they had suffered sexual and physical abuse at the hands of their father, both juries were deadlocked, resulting in mistrials, and the pair were later tried again together. Ironically, the second trial took place a week after Mr Kardashian successfully defended OJ Simpson against a murder charge. In another twist, producer Murphy had also covered that case in The People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, which featured David Schwimmer as their father, Mr Kardashian, before Murphy went on to produce the story of the Menendez brothers.

Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted of first-degree murder and special circumstances. The convictions meant they were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. However, last October, then-district attorney George Gascon recommended the brothers be resentenced to 50 years to life, making them immediately eligible for parole. A new sentencing hearing had been planned for the end of January, but was delayed by nearly two months due to the California wildfires, the Associated Press reported.