Robert Rand visits the Menendez brothers every month. This is what he told us.

The first time Robert Rand met the Menendez brothers, two months after the murder of their parents in 1989, they lied to his face. They were lying to everyone, at that point.

They'd cancelled on him, multiple times, but eventually he sat down with them (an hour and a half late, mind you), in the same Beverly Hills mansion where Jose and Kitty had been shot a combined 16 times.

As he writes in his book The Menendez Murders, "I felt a chill as we walked past the open double doors leading to the room [where they died]….if I lived in the mansion, I decided I would close those doors. After passing by a second time, I thought if my parents had been murdered in that house I wouldn't even be living there".

As he explained to Mamamia's True Crime Conversations, in those initial conversations with Lyle and Erik - aged 21 and 18 at the time - they "told me several loving, caring and emotional stories about how much they miss their parents".

Listen to Robert Rand's full interview. Post continues after video.

In one conversation, with Erik alone, Rand remembers the young man asking him for any details the detectives investigating the murders had shared with him.

"They tried to reach me," he told Rand. "But I haven't called them back."

Then he told a story about a gang fight he'd gotten into, and how it 'might' be linked to the murders.

Five months later Lyle and Erik were charged with murdering their parents, and they were suddenly catapulted into worldwide infamy as all eyes were on their case.

"By the time they were arrested, I knew they were the only suspects. I'd kept in touch with their aunt, and she knew they were the primary suspects," said Rand.

Only 12 reporters were allowed into the court-room for the Menendez brother's first trial, and you secured a spot by writing personally to the judge.

Rand had a book contract to write about the case itself, so he was a shoe-in. He'd kept in touch with the brothers since their arrest, interviewing them regularly.

The rest of the reporters were sat 200 metres away in a room, watching via Court TV.

The defence had kept their case a secret until the trial (something Rand thinks was a grave mistake, as it let the other narrative of them being spoilt rich killers run rampant). So the brothers went into the case cold, as the world watched them endure harrowing questioning on the stand about the childhood sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of their father from when they were aged around six. For Erik, it continued until his father's death.

Their mother had known about the abuse, something they discovered in an altercation prior to their deaths, and the brothers' defence was that they killed because they believed they were about to be killed.

Lyle and Erik Menendez in court. Image: AAP/AP/Nick Ut.

"It was excruciating to be in the courtroom, " Rand told True Crime Conversations. "It is a totally different experience to actually be in the courtroom 20 feet away from the witness, compared to watching a video feed."

The defence theory of the case was that it was 'imperfect self defence,' with Lyle and Erik in such fear of their own lives they shot their parents.

The defence called 53 witnesses - teachers, coaches, family and friends who helped build this image of Kitty and Jose being tyrants, with many recalling incidents of physical, verbal and emotional abuse. Some recalled incidents that backed up the men's claims of sexual abuse.

By the end, half the jury wanted to opt for a manslaughter conviction (the women), while the other half (the men), wanted murder.

"I interviewed all 24 jurors at the first trial, and all the men told me some version of, well, 'the father would never do that to his sons'," Rand told True Crime Conversations. 

"That's the way society was 30 years ago…[and the media] simply mocked the brothers."

The trial was discarded, and the one that led to their eventual conviction was completely different.

"I don't blame the jury for reaching the verdict they did, because they heard a completely different set of evidence than the jurors in the first trial… Judge Weisman would not allow all the relatives, family, friends, coaches who knew the brothers to testify in the second trial. [He] ruled that way because he said, 'any evidence of their abuse is just not relevant to this trial," said Rand.

They were convicted of murder, and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, something Rand says is absolutely not appropriate.

"The correct verdict in this trial should have been manslaughter, not murder. If the brothers had been convicted of manslaughter, as half the jurors voted for in the first trial, they would have been sentenced to 22 years in prison. They've now been incarcerated for almost 35 years," he said.

"The streets of California are not safer tonight because Erik and Lyle Menendez are locked up. I believe if the brothers get out, they will never commit any new crimes, and they've dedicated their lives to being a service in their inmate community."

Watch: The Menendez Brothers is one of two trending adaptations of this story currently available on Netflix. Post continues after trailer.

Rand visits the brothers once a month in prison, and talks to them both on the phone regularly. He's been a huge part of helping them secure their first step towards freedom.

In October 2024, the Los Angeles County district attorney formally recommended their resentencing, arguing for a lesser sentence for the pair.

Last year they filed a habeas petition calling for a review of potential new evidence in the case, including a letter Erik allegedly wrote to a cousin apparently referencing allegations of abuse by his father as well as a sworn declaration by a former member of boy band Menudo, Roy Rosselló, alleging Jose Menendez raped him in the 1980s.

That testimony from Rosselló was secured by Rand and his team, and released via a documentary called Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.

The brothers still have a number of hoops to jump through before they can think about freedom, including a re-sentencing hearing, which could take years.

But, "they've told me they're cautiously optimistic, they're hopeful, really, for the first time in their prison incarceration," Rand told True Crime Conversations.

As he wrote in the epilogue in his book, "real life is grey. Erik and Lyle Menendez were neither all bad or all good…if the Menendez trial were held today, it is likely there would have been a different ending. We live in a modern era where there is much more understanding about abuse and family violence. Nothing should give you a free pass to kill your parents, but if there are mitigating circumstances as there clearly was in this case, the resolution should be manslaughter not murder….

"The time has come to seriously consider releasing Erik and Lyle Menendez from prison."

Feature image: Robert Rand/Nick Ut/AAP.