Being an armchair detective has turned into an American obsession, fueled by an abundance of true-crime content in podcasts and television series. But some of those projects have sparked actual legal developments.
The latest example involves the high-profile case of brothers of Erik and Lyle Menendez, who were convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the 1989 murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, inside the family’s Beverly Hills mansion.
On Thursday, prosecutors in Los Angeles announced they are reviewing new evidence presented in the case ahead of a hearing next month, including a letter written by Erik Menendez, now 53, that his attorneys argue corroborates allegations the brothers experienced years of sexual abuse by their father.
In their petition to review the case filed last year, attorneys for the brothers also cited the Peacock docuseries “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.” The project included an interview with a former member of the boy band Menudo, who said in a sworn affidavit that he was raped by Jose Menendez when he was about 14.
Public interest in the Menendez case was reignighted recently by Ryan Murphy’s Netflix dramatization of the murders in “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” While the brothers have denounced the depiction in the scripted series as inaccurate, it brought attention to their legal efforts from Kim Kardashian and others.
“So many people are now interested in the case and it speaks to me about the power of television and what it can do. It can shine a spotlight on something and it can illuminate dark corners,” Murphy told Variety this week. “We gave them their moment in the court of public opinion.”
It’s not the first time pop culture projects may have prompted legal developments. Here are a few other examples:
R. Kelly and "Surviving R. Kelly"
The acclaimed singer was acquitted in 2008 of charges related to child pornography after a tape surfaced that prosecutors said showed him having sex with a then 14-year-old girl. That didn’t stop conversation over the years about Kelly and allegations of sexual misconduct, however.
Some of those stories came to light in January 2019 in “Surviving R. Kelly,” a bombshell, multi-episode docuseries in which several women shared allegations of abuse at the hands of Kelly that he denied.
Just months later, in July 2019, the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois released a 13-count indictment that included child pornography and obstruction of justice charges. Kelly was also charged with sex trafficking in New York and attempting to influence a case in Atlanta in a five-count indictment from the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. In August of 2019, Kelly was charged with engaging in prostitution with a person under 18 in Minnesota in connection to an alleged incident that occurred in July 2001 at a promotional event.
Kelly pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The reaction to “Surviving R. Kelly” was massive and a second season with additional allegations aired in January 2020.
Kelly was convicted of federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges in 2021 and sentenced to 30 years in prison. The disgraced R&B singer was also found guilty of charges of child pornography and enticement of a minor. He received a separate 20-year prison sentence.
Avery, Brendan Dassey and “Making a Murder”
The disappearance and subsequent discovery of the death of 25-year-old photographer Teresa Halbach in October 2005 probably would have remained a local story in Wisconsin were it not for Netflix.
The streaming giant’s 2015 docuseries “Making a Murderer” told the story of Steven Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey, who were arrested and convicted of Halbach’s murder.
The 10-episode series was so popular that it led to multiple online forums, where viewers discussed the crime and exchanged their own theories and interpretations of the evidence.
A second season, titled “Making a Murderer: Part 2,” released in 2018.
Both Avery and Dassey were sentenced to life in prison, but Dassey’s conviction was overturned in 2016.
Prosecutors appealed and a federal appeals court later reinstated the conviction.
Avery has filed unsuccessfully filed multiple appeals and motions over the years.
Both men remain incarcerated.
Robert Durst and "The Jinx"
“The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst” is a true-crime series that made news even as it was in the news.
Durst, an eccentric New York real estate heir, was arrested right before HBO (which is owned by CNN's parent company) aired the show’s finale in March 2015.
The series investigated three cases Durst was connected to: the unsolved disappearance of Durst’s wife, Kathie, in 1982; the 2000 execution-style murder of his friend, writer Susan Berman, and the death and dismemberment the following year of his neighbor, Morris Black, in Galveston, Texas.
Durst claimed self defense in the death of Black and was arrested for Berman’s murder while the first season of the series was airing.
He was convicted of first-degree murder for the killing of Berman in 2021 and sentenced to life without parole.
Durst was also indicted for his late wife’s death, but he died in January 2022.
In April 2024, HBO aired a second season of “The Jinx.”
Adnan Syed and "Serial"
The podcast “Serial” not only helped propel interest in the then-new form of media, it led to the release of a man convicted of killing his high school girlfriend.
The 2014 podcast, hosted by journalist Sarah Koenig, looked at the conviction of Adnan Syed for the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, when they were both seniors at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County.
Season one set podcast records at the time of its release with more than 300 million downloads, according to producers of the program. Syed had been serving a life sentence for first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping and false imprisonment.
The attention to the case, which included questions about the defense Syed received, led to his conviction being vacated in September 2022.
His release was hailed by supporters, but in August 2022 the Maryland Supreme Court ruled that the conviction should be reinstated because of procedural errors in the conviction being set aside.
Syed remains free while the case is under appeal.
