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O.J. Simpson and the Menendez Brothers: Their Surprising Connection
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They had been the lads who ignited two of essentially the most infamous authorized trials of the Nineties.
Lyle and Erik Menendez, two brothers who seemingly loved a privileged upbringing, shocked the nation by turning a shotgun on their dad and mom of their Beverly Hills house in August 1989. And O.J. Simpson, a soccer Corridor of Famer turned actor and TV persona, grew to become the highest suspect within the June 1994 slaying of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her good friend Ron Goldman in close by Brentwood, his apprehension marked by an epic automobile chase by way of the sprawling freeways of Los Angeles.
However whereas they had been linked within the public consciousness by way of their affiliation with the grotesque murders, additionally they cast a decent bond behind bars as they waited out the high-profile jury deliberations that might resolve their freedom.
READ MORE: Why the Menendez Brothers Killed Their Dad and mom – a Look Inside Their Homicide Case
The younger Menendez boys first met Simpson on the top of his fame
Simpson and the Menendez brothers had beforehand met within the mid-Seventies, when the previous was a record-setting operating again with the NFL’s Buffalo Payments and the latter two had been the younger sons of the Hertz rental automobile govt who helped ink the famed athlete to an endorsement deal.
The enterprise ties led to a extra private connection, as Simpson grew to become a visitor on the Menendez house. Lyle, the older brother, later recalled to Folks the yard catches loved with the larger-than-life sporting hero and the signed footballs he gave the boys.
Greater than a decade later, Lyle bumped into Simpson in an L.A. restaurant alongside his Princeton College tennis teammates, a number of months earlier than his life was upended by the shotgun blasts fired at Jose and Kitty Menendez.
Erik grew to become Simpson’s neighboring cellmate
Once they all met once more at Los Angeles County Males’s Central Jail, it was the Menendez brothers, already incarcerated for greater than 4 years and getting ready for a retrial after the primary one’s hung jury, who had been ready to supply steering.
As instructed in Robert Rand’s The Menendez Murders (2018), Simpson wound up within the cell subsequent to Erik following the conclusion of his notorious automobile chase. Whereas the previous NFL star was handled “like royalty” by the awed guards, he additionally was in shock from the abrupt change to his way of life and despondent about his tarnished repute.
Erik warned his neighbor in regards to the relentless media scrutiny to return and suggested him to keep away from discussing his case with fellow inmates or guards. He additionally earned Simpson’s gratitude for penning a letter that urged him to begin considering extra about his life and future. “Once you cry – keep in mind these tears,” Erik wrote. “Maintain them since you’re crying on your youngsters, you are crying for the whole lot you are shedding.”
Moreover, as revealed within the A&E docuseries The Menendez Murders: Erik Tells All (2018), it was the youthful brother who used his connections to hook the athlete up with Johnnie Cochran, the lawyer who would have an outsize influence on the soon-to-come Simpson trial.
O.J. Simpson’s mug shot, 1994
Picture: Los Angeles Police by way of Ron Galella Assortment by way of Getty Photos
Lyle suggested Simpson to confess guilt
Lyle had his personal frequent interactions with Simpson, the 2 sharing greater than 100 conversations as they awaited conferences with authorized illustration within the jail’s lawyer room.
Believing Simpson to be responsible of the killings, Lyle advised he settle for a plea discount and provided tips on the distinction between homicide and manslaughter prices, although Simpson once more appeared a bit too preoccupied along with his repute to contemplate admitting guilt.
Lyle additionally wrote Simpson a letter during which he urged him to return clear with the total story. “I instructed him I assumed the general public would perceive,” the older brother relayed to Rand for The Menendez Murders. “I expressed my concern that [lawyer] Robert Shapiro would not let him inform the reality. I mentioned I knew it clearly wasn’t deliberate, and that he had snapped within the warmth of ardour.”
Erik believes the Simpson verdict affected his probabilities of success
Whereas Simpson and the Menendez brothers grew shut throughout their shared time in jail, their paths quickly diverged with the outcomes of their contentious and exhaustively coated trials.
On October 3, 1995, Simpson was discovered not responsible of double murder. The retrial of Lyle and Erik started simply eight days later, ultimately ending with their conviction on first-degree homicide prices and double life sentences.
Whereas the brothers have largely shied away from publicly discussing their outdated jailhouse confidant, it is clear there stays some lingering resentment over the notion that Simpson’s victory spelled unhealthy information for his or her probabilities of acquittal.
“O.J.’s verdict had a really damaging impact on our case,” the youthful brother opined in The Menendez Murders: Erik Tells All, suggesting that the L.A. County District Lawyer’s workplace wanted to bounce again from letting a Simpson indictment slip by way of their grasp.
“As a result of this verdict was so surprising, there was this sense an excessive injustice had occurred and now we’re gonna should proper it with each defendant that comes up,” mentioned Erik, including, “We had been the following defendant.”
