Hi, guys, Welcome to another episode of Legally Brunette. I will be your host today Emily Simpson, with my sidekick over here, Shane. Just Shane, all right. First of all, so last night there was the TMZ presentation of this interview from prison for the Menendez Brothers, so I stayed up later than normal to watch it. But before we get into that, I wanted to do just a couple updates on some other cases that we've talked about previously.
First of all, last episode, if you guys haven't listened to it yet, we went into the Idaho college murders, which is really an interesting case. Also, the alleged suspect, Brian Coburger, goes on trials soon, so that's why we
wanted to get into this case. But after I released some of the social media clips, I had a lot of people asking about the door dash driver, So I just wanted to do a quick little update on the timeline and then ask you guys a question, because this whole DoorDash driver kind of has me a and a.
I don't know what is the DoorDash, so I have questions about it too. What is it?
So on the night of the murders. Xanna Kernodle received a DoorDash delivery less than twenty minutes before she was stabbed to death inside her home. This was, according to the arrest Affid David, the twenty year old's final meal likely from Jack's Jack in the Box, and we have a photo of it. It was the photo was taken inside the house and it was dropped off by the DoorDash driver at the house on King Road in Moscow, Idaho, at four a m. According to the probable cause Affidavid.
Now the timeline is she was active on her so the DoorDash delivery gets dropped off at four am. She's active on her phone at four twelve, But she had been murdered alongside her boyfriend Ethan in her bed by four twenty five. So there is a picture of the DoorDash delivery, but it's in the kitchen. So here's where
I'm confused by this conundrum. If the DoorDash driver delivers the door dash at four a m, she's on her phone at four twelve on social media or active on her phone, and she is dead by four twenty five, did she.
Or someone was active on her phone?
Okay, well maybe that's another theory. But my question is the photo of the DoorDash delivery is in the kitchen of the house, So did the DoorDash driver come into the house and deliver it.
In the g Maybe that's what I was saying earlier last week, was is it like a four plex? Is it like an apartment style building, even if it's not aficially an apartment, And maybe there's a common area, like there's a hallway that they can walk in, and then you know what I mean, Like, I don't know what the layout is.
I've seen pictures of the layout of the house and it's three as far as I know, it's three levels, so there's like a main level, then there's a second level, and then there's a third level. Don't exactly where the kitchen is. And I understand this isn't relevant to the murders because the DoorDash driver has been Clearity was not a suspect. But I'm just confused when I try to imagine what happened that evening before she was murdered. She gets a DoorDash delivery at four, Why is the food
not in her room? Why did she not pick up the food from the DoorDash delivery at four and take it in her room with her.
Well, how many times you order the DoorDash almost every night?
And first of all, is an inaccurate statement. You order it last night for the kids, not for me.
Okay, anyway, sometimes it's out there on the front door for a while. I know, but this is especially if you're dead. It's going to stay out there for quite a while.
I understand that. But the picture of the food is in the kitchen, So I'm just confused.
I don't know.
Did the DoorDash driver drop it off and bring it inside it?
Well, that would be a question for the DoorDash driver. Did you ask him?
I actually googled it, googled it because I was trying to find more articles about it. But everything I read just broke down the timeline.
Of all because it is probably nothing. It's probably what.
I need to know. So if anybody knows that, can you please DM me and let me know. Also, I do believe that the door dash driver would probably testify during trial in order to establish a timeline of events, right, so maybe we can figure that out.
Once eaten eaten eating, it was not consumed. It was not consumed.
I believe it was not consumed. It's jack in the box that has Zana's name on the bag. It's sitting in the kitchen meat.
Meat because Colberger is a vegan and maybe he ordered he didn't order door dash to Have you ever heard of like the murders eaten like they're they're leftover food and stuff.
Yeah, that is true. I've said that on forensics exactly how they commit murder. They go through the kitchen and make themselves a.
Say, got me some slack. I might have had something.
All right, anyway, we're going to move on. That was just a question I had about the DoorDash delivery. So if anybody has more information about that, feel free to dm me. I love to hear your guys.
If the door Dash delivery guy is listening, Yes, mister door Dash driver, if you listen to legally Brunette, could you please let me know what happened that evening, even though there's a gag order on everyone in this case. But I'll underestimate your audience, that's true.
All right, Let's do a little update on gene Hackman. So the I think it's called hant Is it haunt a virus or handa virus. I think someone told me I was pronouncing it.
Called the rat poop poop virus. Okay, the rat the street name for it all, All right.
We'll just go with rat poopoo virus kills three people in California. So the Mono County Public Health has confirmed a total of three deaths due to the rat poo poo virus and Mammoth Lakes, a town in California Sierra Nevada Mountains. All three of the recent California cases have been fatal. Oh my gosh, which doctor tom his last name is Boo, doctor Tom Boo's because you just said it was called the rat poo poo vir and now doctor.
Doctor Boo is a rat poo poo expert.
I can't with you, Doctor Tom Boo. The county's public health officer described this as and alarming. Clearly, one person had numerous mice in their home, but no evidence of mice was found, and the other two homes. This is what the release stated. The occurrence of three cases in a short period has me worried, especially this early in the year. Doctor Boo said, you.
Know, I saw a video of the groundskeeper or whomever it was that found them and then reported and called nine to one to one for welfare checked and they were very emotional and in the actual reporting of it. Yeah,
I did read that to me. I don't know if I'm right, but it just seemed like they had a connection and probably the Hackmans were very nice and good clients and probably were kind and they always they probably kind of like my parents have these groundskeeper that have been for ten plus years, yeah, ten plus years, right, and like they kind of know them, and if they
found my parents unfortunately dead, they would probably too. So anyway, just made me think that the Hackmens are probably they were probably good to them, they probably had a connect with them, And so I just made it even more of a sad, you know loss, right, that's all as opposed to you know, it just didn't seem so cold. It seemed very unfortunate, right.
So a little bit more with the Hackman case. Gene Hackman's mother in law, so this is his wife's mother, asked the court to block the release of footage of the actual bodies. This was a People article. So Betsy Arakawa, which was the wife her mother, is opposing the release of police bodycam footage that would show her daughter and Gene Hackman's dead bodies in court documents, which were attained by people on Monday, March thirty first. The mother in
law's name is Yoshi Feaster. She shared in a statement that since the death of her daughter and son in law, the significant media coverage surrounding the circumstances of her passing have forced me to relive the experience of her untimely death repeatedly the mother in law or the mother the mother of anyway. Gene Hackman's mother in law continued that media outlets have been seeking to act access photographs and videos of her daughter's body from the New Mexico's Office
of the Medical Investigator. What do you think about that? I mean, what do you think about the public rights to information as opposed to someone's.
Like the videos? Like the videos? Yeah, I don't think it should be really am I curious? Would I watch it? Would I click on it if it was made avail to me?
Yeah?
Yes, right? Do I think it should be released as a matter of rights?
No?
I don't think so.
So you think a person a family's privacy as to their their dead relatives is a higher standard or regard as opposed to the public's need to consume yeah, salacious material, right, a daily basis, right, other.
Than these dumb podcasts trying to get all that they can I know. But also, I mean that's a that's a general answer. I mean, but there might be specifics sometimes if there's criminality involved and they want to release it to maybe get insight information or people to give tips. There are reasons. But generally speaking of if there's no foul playing, someone's just just because there's a celebrity everyone
wants to see Gene Hackman on the floor. I mean, that's kind of sad, especially when to go watch Crimson Tides, right, especially after he had apparently been laying there for a week.
Yeah, so we can imagine what the body looks like at that point. So, Betsy's mother expressed concerns over how releasing the images of her late daughter could end up online, on television and be discussed on the radio and on these annoying podcasts. Yes, So, on March thirty first, a New Mexico judge ruled that video, audio, and photos that fall under New Mexico public records law can be released in connection to the deaths of Gene and Betsy, but
that their bodies cannot be shown. The bodies must be blurred or edited out. This is what the judge ruled. So basically, you can look up probably the crime scene, you can look up the house, you can look up everything. You just can't see the images of the bodies.
Yeah, I mean, don't they always blur out like faces and bodies when they're dead anyway, when they like if there's a news reporting or you know, you watch those video like well maybe bodycam videos, and when there's a dead by, they always blurred out.
I think maybe with reputable news sources because they try to have some integrity. But if you google something online, I mean, you can usually find the crime scene photo. Yeah, I mean I've seen them menindaz crime scene photos like those are pretty brutal, all right. Gene Hackman and Betsy are Akalla bodies are left unclaimed for over a month.
This was in the Mirror. This was an article. So the names of Gene Hackman and a spouse, Betsy, have been quietly scrubbed from New Mexico's Office of the Medical Investigator list of unclaimed descendants, amidst rumors suggesting a bitter family division at play over the bodies left unattended according to the current protocol and unclaimed decedent implies individuals have been id'd, but the next of ken haven't been tracked down.
This comes after mounting speculation that their loved ones had yet to lay claim to the bodies, igniting talks of a family feud. Up until March twenty seventh, the Hackmans were still marked on the Office of a Medical Investigator's website, but by Friday morning, people observed that they'd vanished from the record. So I think there was some reporting that they were listed as unclaimed, and then I think once it was reported in the media, it looks like it
was a scrub from the website. So I don't know if someone claimed the bodies or if right, or if they just didn't want the attention on that website and maybe they just took them off. So I don't really know what happened with that.
I don't know, but it's I mean, it's not really of public.
Value, no, but I think it goes to the heart of there were the two daughters, and remember they hadn't checked on them for months or had any contact with them, and then apparently the bodies were left and not claimed by next of Kenada for a while, so speculating that, you know, there's this type of family feud, and where is this? I mean, he had a pretty large estate. I think that was maybe surprising the people because it
seemed like he lived a very simple life. But just because someone lives a simple life doesn't mean that they.
Know don't have a lot. And just because someone lives a flashy life doesn't mean they have a lot of money.
Either, exactly. So where do you fall.
I'm a simple man, a simple man man.
Shane is a simple man. I will tell you when Shane and I were first married, this was like sixteen years ago. He lived in Utah, and this man, he would never have bought furniture or anything if it wasn't for me.
This is, my kids have furniture.
The kids have furniture.
And I had a couch and a TV. A couch in the TV you are, And there was a lot of toys in the house.
A lot of toys, no furniture. And you know, I remember when my dad and I had no debt. I know, I just I remember when my dad got divorced when I was like eighteen. Well, he wasn't divorced, but he had girlfriend for a long time. She moved out. My dad had outdoor lawn furniture as his furniture inside his home. Yeah, for like a year.
Was he an unhappy man?
No, he had a big TV and cable and then he had outdoor furniture as his living room furniture. And I was like, men are so simple. If Shane was not married to me, this house would never be remodeled, it would not have furniture. He would have it the biggest TV you could buy and a couch and it would still look like nineteen ninety three in this house. Yeah right, I'm right.
Yeah.
Okay, So apparently Gene Hackman had a pretty large estate when he died. He lived on twelve acres. The house was worth around three point eight million. This is in New Mexico, and according to a will, he had in estate of around eighty million.
Okay, and we don't know who's who's gonna be the beneficiary.
Yeah, no, I don't think that's been made public yet.
It'll likely be whoever.
She chose, whoever the wife chose. Yeah, because was she the gatekeeper? She was the gatekeeper. But I mean that was just my speculation because it said I believe earlier when we talked about this case, it was that he didn't have a cell phone, like everyone had to go through her. He was estrange, I think from the daughters, and so I called her the gatekeeper. So I if she would not have died at the same time as him, she would have inherited.
Well actually no, not necessarily unless he had a will that excluded her. Well I can't, but like the likelihood was they just had joint accounts or whatnot. He might have had some prenup for his kids or something. We'll find out.
We'll find out when the when the will. I'd rather see the will than the body. Yeah, Shane wants the finances. He does not want to gets what. So last night there was a special on the Meninda's brothers, and I feel slightly bamboozled because it was like TMZ presents, you know, prison interviews of Lyle and Eric Menindez. So I stayed up past my bedtime to watch this, and when I was watching it, I was like, this sounds so familiar
to me. So basically what it was Harvey Levin, who is TMZ, and Mark Garrigos, who represents them in Inda's Brothers Post Conviction. They together, the two of them have a podcast called Two Angry Men, and weeks ago, I think it was weeks ago, maybe a month or so ago, they had an.
Episode on Z spelled two or t o.
It's two. Yeah, that's you, You're the too angry Man.
I was wondering how they spelled it, So too to Tea's in a pod, but it's two angrymen.
It's two in a pod, two agremen in a pod, but it's two, not t o. Anyway, they had an episode that I listened to, and it was Lyle and Eric calling in from prison and Harvey was asking them questions and they did an interview. I listened to the whole podcast. They talked about what they want to do
if they get released. And anyway, what they did for the special that was on last night, This Whole TMZ Presents, was that they took the audio from this podcast and they used that same audio as the interview, and then they added some clips and some photos and so basically it was just taking what they'd already recorded on a podcast and trying to make it into a special.
So is that what you were angry watching it.
I was angry.
I was I couldn't ask any questions like Emily snapping.
I was like, stop talking to me.
And I asked a couple weeks ago, I said, well, what's different. I already did an interview. Said no, this is the first ar I'm like, no, they already did the first interview, So what's different? And you said, and you got all angry and then last night you watched it and then you feel now bamboozle. That's what I said. I said, it's the same thing.
Yeah. So TMZ special was called The Meninda's Brothers the Prison Interview. It aired last night on Fox and it will air today on Hulu.
But they did add like video and visuals and some narration. It wasn't just an audio play.
No, that's what I said.
For those that want to watch it, there was some more value to it.
So in the exclusive interview, Lyle and Eric Menendez spoke with Harvey Levin over the phone from their correctional facility and discuss their experiences in prison and their hopes for the future. They expressed optimism about their upcoming parole hearing, scheduled for June thirteenth, twenty twenty five. And their aspirations to continue advocacy work for abuse victims if they are released. So let's just go back and just do a little summary of where they're at in the legal system. They're
really on a two track way right now. There is the June thirteenth, they have a parole hearing, which that came down from what's his name, Gavin Newsome himself when he said when he did, I think it was his.
First podcast he of his revamped podcast.
His first podcast of his revamped podcast, he talked about how he was now getting involved into the in this case.
He doesn't need to get involved. He wants get involved as commune their sentence and stead He's like, oh, this is popular, let me get involved.
Let me get involved because I don't cook in the kitchen after the fire situation, so let me hop on the Menendez trade. So anyway, he now has ordered that the parole board do this risk assessment type of research to put together what some type of opinion as to whether they should be paroled or not, and that's is scheduled for June thirteenth. Also, they still have the resentencing hearing possibility. Even though the DA hawkman is not He's not behind the recensing. He came out and said that
they shouldn't be released, they shouldn't be resentenced. There is a hearing this Friday in front of Judge Jessic and it's basically the DA trying to withdraw their invite to be resentenced. So the judge has to decide whether he's going to continue with the hearing going forward or whether the DA gets to a withdraw.
So they filed like a motion to withdraw or whatever.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know.
It's to the judge Tree if you everything, and decide if he's going to grant it or continue.
Right, because if you do, remember that the whole resentencing started with the prior DA, who is a much more progressive DA. Now we have Hawkman and he's like, no, they should stay in prison forever. And he called them liars and said they needed to admit to all these lies and things.
Like that is something that said that the greatest liars of all time or something. So that was that just some commentators.
That was a reporter that had been during that had been present during the trials, and so if you watch the special, the TMZ special, there is a reporter that called them the greatest liars that he'd ever witnessed. So so there's that, all right, So let's talk about what Eric and Lyle will do if they are released again. They have a two track system that could either be their sentence can be commuted by Gavin Newsom, or there's still the possibility of a resentencing. It's not dead yet,
they said. We have pretty much a shared purpose. This is what Lyle told TMZ in terms of the victim's community. We have for decades been involved with and a lot of our joy and a lot of our grief has come from that community. Lyle spoke about the work he and his brother have done in prison, including speaking about trauma in order to help healing. He hopes to do
more of that if released. Lyle told TMZ, which is actually Harvey, that after testifying about the abuse he and his brothers said they suffered at the hands of their father, he received a lot of support and also hopes to keep up his work with helping survivors of trauma. Eric also expressed similar sentiments to TMZ, saying that if he's released, he wants to be an advocate for people who have
survived childhood trauma. There are people that the system is failing, and I want to help the people that the system is failing. Eric said, Lyle and I aren't talking about leaving prison. Should we be able to get out and not looking back, our lives will be spent working with the prison and doing the work we're doing in here, but doing it out there. Basically, they're saying we've spent the last you know, thirty five years in prison helping other survivors of trauma. I know they do. I know
they have groups that they speak in. I know Eric paints and Lyle does these groups. I know Lyle has painted like he was. He started some initiative that was called like a green space initiative where they painted murals
and they planted some trees and greenery. I actually thought that was interesting because I remember in the original if you listen to the original podcast, which had more interview than this actual special did, Lyle talks about how in prison it's not really rehabilitating if you're just within these walls that are white, you know, and you're stuck in these rooms. Like, how are you supposed to rehabilitate someone if they don't see trees or animals or grass or
anything that keeps people happy and grounded. And so I believe he started like this green space initiative where they planted some trees, they brought in some there's some grass, some flowers planted. I think they painted this huge mural on the wall in order to have more color and life in the prison system. And I actually agree with that, Like, if we want people to be rehabilitated.
Then rehability to rehabilitate them is like going to physical therapy and they're going to sit here. They come like, Okay, you're done, go back out there, right, So you know, maybe that's something that will catch on in other prisons.
As far as rehabilitating prisoners, I do like a lot of times when you see the therapy dogs that come in and the prisoners train them to be they get them as puppy as they trained them to be therapy dogs. Things like that are just such cool. And the firefighters that's another one. We were going to do a podcast about that. Do you remember during the LA fires, a lot of the fire teams that were brought in were the.
Person I was very curious how that's organized. That's very interesting.
Yeah, so someone actually reached out to me. It was an attorney. She was a defense attorney, and she's a lot of times with these young guys. When they go into prison, you can request from the judge that they'd be put into the fire program. And I don't remember exactly what all the requirements were, but it was like, you know, good health and young and not violent.
Not convicted of arson, right, not convicted of.
Arson, probably not convicted of murder, but maybe some of the lesser sentences that they could go into the fire program within the prison and learn these skills. Anyway, the brothers are hopeful. At this point in the interview, Lyle shared, our hope for the future is really kind of a new thing for us. I think Eric would probably agree with that. It's not something we've spent a lot of time on. And you know, if you think about it, they were convicted thirty five years ago, life without parole.
So all these good things that they've done in prison.
Are in the hopes of the writing out.
Are not because they're trying to create for show, right, it's not for show. It's not because they're trying to create, you know, a legacy so that when they are up for parole, they can talk, they can list all these great things that they've done, they're actually doing it because they were in Well, that was the one thing I.
Got out of the quote unquote special last night was the rapper the named X Rated.
Yes, x Rated was on there with the d he Ray did.
Yeah, he said he was with them for eighteen years. And he said, and I'm paraphrasing, he said that those guys helped him to kind of be motivated to get himself together for when he got out, Like they educated him, they worked with him, they supported him. And he said, those guys were never getting out, but they were focused on me and becoming a better person for when I got out.
Yeah, I thought that was That did say a lot, and I thought that was really interesting and I'm glad they did include that in the special. I mean, I guess I was slightly bamboozled, but they did add in some other people into the special that spoke on their behalf. I mean, they also had the detective. You know, you have to keep it balanced, right, So they had the detective that said they should never get out of I mean, he was the detective.
That the detective did live with him in jail this whole time.
No, he's still as far. I mean, they interviewed the detective.
It's not a matter of, oh, they're not guilty, let them out. It's a matter of given the circumstances, given the trauma that they supposedly went through, and all these things coupled with them for thirty five years having already served prison time, and all the good that they're doing that they might actually be contributing citizens when they come out, right. It's all those things put together right, probably more.
But here's a quote from Eric that was in the special. I'm striving to be a better person every day, and I want to be a person that my family can be proud of. Who I've evolved into, who I've seen Lyle evolve into. I'm finally beginning to like myself and be proud of myself, and I find it's okay to like myself. Also, I thought it was interesting that TMZ included a poll in this special. They asked, I don't remember what they're how many people look. I can't remember
the exact number of people they pulled. I think it was like sixty eight thousand or something that voted.
It as an online poll though, Yeah.
So they asked the public if the Meninda's brothers should go free. What do you what are your guests? What do you guess? What do you think it was?
I don't know. I don't know who the sixty eight thousand people are.
That doesn't matter.
Are they people in the prisons? No voted? I don't know.
No, it's just TMS like you you follow TMZ.
I mean like maybe they did it on X they just put.
It yeah, probably, So what do you think?
Well, I bet you it's a toss up. I bet you it's like any it's like fifty to fifty.
It's actually very close. It's forty seven percent voted that absolutely, they've served enough time. Fifty three percent voted no, way, they murdered their parents, they should stay in prison. I actually was surprised by that because I thought it would be flipped. I thought it would be higher that people think that they should be really.
Yeah, But I think I just guess it's a toss up fifty, which it pretty much is, because no one you have to look into the facts to really no. I mean, how many people just vote just because it's in front of them and they don't really know. So the thy oh murder their parents stay in prison? Like, no one's you mean, that's how I thought that poll isn't really.
So you're saying, yeah, well okay, Well let me ask you.
Are they informed votes? Probably not?
Probably not. I don't think anyone's informed when they've no vote. Okay, let me ask you, because you're an informed voter, how would you vote? I'm talking about the poll. I'm saying you're an informed voter.
Because if it's just a vote, I would say they should be released.
Do you think so? Okay?
I mean, based on all the things you've talked to me, and if I voted, know they should stay in prison, you'd probably be very mad with me.
Oh that's not even true. I go back and forth. Honestly, people have asked me do I think they should be released or do I think they should stay in prison? And I go back and forth. I tell you, when I listen to them speak now as adults, and they sound so poignant and poised and like they've been rehabilitated, I don't think that they're a risk to society, which is a factor, right It All rehabilitation and whether they should be released all comes down to are they a
risk to society? Do I think they're a risk. Absolutely not. Would I want them as neighbors. I wouldn't be worried if they were my neighbors. I think the brutality of what they did was a specific, isolated event to that family and the trauma that was going on in that family, and I think that's what that was about. I don't think they're the kind of people that would be released.
It doesn't sound like you go back and forth.
No, I do, though I do, But then when I see crime scene photos and you go back to that night and the brutality of it, I'm like, wow, that was I mean, they were eighteen to twenty one, and that was a pretty brutal evening and Lyle reloaded.
Yeah.
I mean then I kind of think about that. But I guess if I had to, if I had to, if I had to pick a side, I think they've been rehabilitated. I think they should be released. I think they've served their time. It's been thirty five years that they've spent in prison, and they've been model prisoners.
So I think, you know, and they might very well continue work outside. They might, I imagine. I don't imagine that they would just leave the prison and never return. They probably would come back to help with programs. Well that's a follow up on the Oh okay, yeah, so I was right.
Did you not watch this special?
Well, I wasn't allowed to ask questions. Right, we're getting mad.
So they do talk about how they will wants to continue with the work that they've done inside the prison, but outside, so I think they would still be involved with victims and children and inmates and whatever. So that's what they say. Eric admits to being a spoiled brat. He calls his younger self a spoiled brat, saying back then he could mask his insecurities with expensive clothes and fancy cars. He went on to say measuring success by
the stuff he acquired was ridiculous. He goes on to admit I'm so ashamed and embarrassed, but he admits he now likes himself and his goal is to.
See why he did that. He looked back and reflected on his life and realized he wanted all those things because he was missing his self identity or whatever you want to call his independence, real happiness. So he was masking it or trying to get all these things to fill that void. I mean, that's quite a bit of growth. That's more growth than most people get, you know.
I also thought it was interesting that Harvey, when he did the interview, he said that he was at the trial thirty five years ago and that he thought that they were just horror you know, cold blooded killers, spoiled rotten brats. I'm sorry who said this, Harvey, the guy he did the end at the time, he said.
Thirty at the time.
He was with the public at the time. He was there during the trials, right.
But I mean he was like the public where everyone thinks only got these brats that wanted money and killed their parents.
Right. But my question is how much of that was just perpetuated by the media, because we talked about before the way that they were just made fun of relentlessly. They were called spoiled brats.
They were on David Like. It was referenced on David Letterman all the time. And I watched the Letterman it was all the time, and as a kid, I'm watching in high school and you just know, like, oh, these two guys killed their parents for money and they got caught. That's all that's all I knew. Of course I was only in high schooler, but that's all that's the impression I got, and that was all the comedians, and that was all the news references, right, and so publicly, yeah, they were screwed.
Right. Here's his actual quote. So Harvey Levin is stunned. He says he's stunned by the changes in the Menindas brothers. He says, I covered the trials when I was a low reporter here in LA and my impressions of them were spoiled brats, monsters who deserved their sentence. Thirty five years later, I spoke with two entirely different people. Their introspective. They're thoughtful, they are remorseful. You had mentioned X Rated before,
but let's talk a little bit more about that. So Annarey, his stage name is x Rated Brown, a rapper who spent twenty six years in prison for murder, found unexpected allies in Lyle and Eric Menindez who helped him rise above his pass and discover his own worth. X Rated met Lyel Menindez first in two thousand and one at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione? Is it Ione, California? Is that how you say it?
I don't know, but he's he was only in prison for twenty six years.
Yeah, and he got out right, what's his murder like, I don't know the details of what happened, but he spent twenty six years in prison for murder and he was released. So I don't know the circumstances of that. I mean, maybe that's something interesting to look up. You bet it is.
I'm going to look it up right.
Now, he says. Meeting Lyle, he struck me as sturdy. He was a strong man. He wasn't a weakling or someone who couldn't hold his own, he said. Lyle taught him to see himself in a new light and recognize his own worth despite his challenging upbringing. In two thousand and eight, the rapper then met Eric. When I got there, he came looking for me and brought a letter that Lyle had written to him, essentially telling him, Hey, this is X Rated. He's our little brother. I love him,
so you love him too. He took me under his wing. From there, x Rated continued, Eric could stand on his own. He wasn't a coward. He was very intelligent, and his emotional intelligence was probably higher than anyone I had ever met before. He helped me a lot with that. So, after spending twenty six years in prison. X Rated was released on parole in twenty eighteen with the help of Lyle and Eric. So I don't know. I thought that was interesting. I mean, I guess I wasn't completely bamboozled
because they did leave. They did have the interview with X Rated, which added another element to their prison life. One last thing. I thought it was interesting that Harvey asked Lyle what his thoughts were on the Monsters drama series.
Yeah, did they watch it?
He said that they did. He said he said he saw bits and pieces that he was able to sit and watch the whole thing.
But he saw.
Enough of it to piece it together. He said he saw parts of it online and he kind of basically felt he saw the movie right. Lyleman Is revealed on the podcast that he felt grateful for the Netflix series, expressing how he thinks that helped people understand the childhood trauma he and his brother experienced. I feel a lot of people were educated about what can happen in rich and affluent homes behind walls. I think it opened a lot of people's eyes, and that's always a good thing.
The brothers initially criticized the show's portrayal of their lives, crime and trial, calling it a disheartening slander. I do know initially that they were upset by it. There's also they allude to an incestuous relationship between the two brothers, which I'm sure that wasn't something that they were happy about. I also know the family spoke against it, saying that it wasn't factually correct and they weren't happy with it.
No one asked them their thoughts or anything like that. However, I think Lyle, now, when you step back from it and you look at it, you recognize the fact that so many people watched it and were invested in it, and then probably like me, went back and did more
research and watched their original trials. These are the people that are rallying around them and are saying that they should be released and their time has been served, and let's be honest for a moment, these two men are getting privileges that other men in prison aren't getting because of their notoriety, Like you can't deny that no one
else I'm saying. They're famous. Yeah, they have a resentencing hearing, and Gavin Newsom has personally said that he's ordering a parole board to review their case and possibly commute their sentence. I'm saying those are privileges that those two are getting because of who they are and the notoriety surrounding.
Yeah, we taught we mentioned that before, But for their popularity, right, I mean, no one would be you know, Team Z wouldn't have a vote out there with sixty eight thousand people, I wouldn't do any polls or anything. We wouldn't be talking about it right now, and you wouldn't have driven by their house to look at it.
I did drive. I didn't just drive by. I actually parked, I stopped selfies, I got out, I made a video of it.
I don't know, It's just it's I mean, even Millie van Illy is getting some comeback opportunities here because you're listening to it every day. Everyone's listening to it.
Yeah. I would say that the Monsters series did more good than harm for the brothers, and I think now looking back on it, they recognize that. So all right, anyway, we are finished with this episode. Thank you again so much for listening to Legally Brunette. We truly appreciate it, and if you have any other information or you have thoughts, please dm me. I read them and I like to respond if I can so. Any thoughts you have, or if you know any more information that we didn't cover,
please feel free to let me know. So Thanks guys, we appreciate it. Bye.