Kim Kardashian must be pleased. She has been one of many high-profile people who have spoken up in the matter of Erik and Lyle Menendez, the two no longer young men who killed their parents in their Beverly Hills, California, family home in August 1989 and, convicted of first-degree murder, have spent decades in prison, with no chance of ever being released.

Until now. Earlier this month, writing an opinion piece for NBC News, where she was referred to as a “businesswoman, media star and criminal justice reform advocate,” Kardashian wrote, “my hope is that Erik and Lyle Menendez’s life sentences are reconsidered. We owe it to those little boys who lost their childhoods, who never had a chance to be heard, helped or saved.”

There have been some modest efforts to revisit the harsh prison sentence over the years, with the brothers previously appealing their convictions to no avail with the California Courts of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of California, which upheld their convictions in 1998 and 1999. The reason this long-ago case is back in the headlines has less to do with judicial errors or moral ambiguities than it does with the nine-part series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” available on Netflix.

It is the creation of powerful TV executives Ian Brennan and Ryan Murphy, the latter whose first “Monster” offering for Netflix (part of a $300 million deal with the network) was 2022’s 10-part romp with Jeffrey Dahmer, the immense popularity of which I wrote was “yet another example of the public’s taste for demons and true crime ‘entertainments.’”

This “Monsters” edition is compellingly performed, starring Nicholas Alexander Chavez as Lyle and Cooper Koch as Erik. The supporting cast is terrific, with Javier Bardem, chilling and quick to outrage as record executive father Jose; Chloë Sevigny a basket of nervous insecurity as mother Kitty; Nathan Lane grounded and incisive with commentary as writer Dominick Dunne covering the trials and haunted by the murder of his daughter; and Erik’s attorney Leslie Abramson sharp and shrewd as played by Ari Graynor.

The series reminds those of us of a certain age of the complexities and sensationalism of the first trial, offering sufficient background and paced with style if also some redundancies. It is effective in introducing younger viewers to the particulars, explaining, among other things, why the first trial wound up with no verdict and why the second trial got far less attention than the first, as it did when it took place. It was not televised and the nation’s collective attention and taste for crime was grabbed and sated by O.J. Simpson’s arrest for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman and the subsequent courtroom drama. That was what completely captured the media’s attention as the Menendez brothers were found guilty and faded into the California prison system.

The series brings them back, colorfully. Add to it the release of a two-hour documentary, also on Netflix, called “The Menendez Brothers.” Add to those that earlier this year new evidence surfaced when Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo alleged that José Menendez had drugged and raped him, (Something that was also mentioned in a three-part Peacock docuseries, “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.”)

In addition to celebrities piping up in support — also Rosie O’Donnell, some of the women of “The View” — the brothers are also backed by two dozen family members, including their mother’s sister.

Still, the brothers have not enjoyed Murphy’s series, not at all. As Erik posted on Facebook, “I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show. I can only believe they were done so on purpose. It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent. So now Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander.”

Murphy responded, calling the brothers’ reaction “faux outrage” and saying that the show “is the best thing that has happened to the Menendez brothers in 30 years in prison.” He further told Netflix’s fan-focused website, Tudum, that the program has “informed an entire generation about that case and launched millions of conversations about sexual abuse.”

This all reached a significant point last week when Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced that he will seek to have the brothers become eligible for parole, arguing the pair have “paid their debt to society.” That’s more complicated than it sounds and could really become much knottier if Gascon loses his Nov. 5 reelection bid, in which recent polls have him trailing conservative Republican challenger, Nathan Hochman, by a whopping 30 percentage points.

His office issued a statement that said, in part, “(We have) developed a more modern understanding of sexual violence since the Menendez brothers first faced prosecution. Today, our office acknowledges that sexual violence is a pervasive issue affecting countless individuals — of all gender identities — and we are committed to supporting all victims as they navigate the profound impacts of such trauma.”

So, it seems likely that the sentence will be revisited. Yes, the world is a different place than it was 30 years ago. People have become more skeptical of the judicial system, have a greater understanding about victimhood, violence and PTSD. True crime podcasts soar in popularity. People kill people.

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(Rick Kogan is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune.)

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