Joseph Lyle Menendez (born January 10, 1968) and Erik Galen Menendez (born November 27, 1970), collectively referred to as the Menendez brothers, are American brothers who were convicted in 1996 of the murders of their parents, José and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez.

During their trial, the brothers first stated that they committed the murders out of fear that their father would kill them after they threatened to expose him for years of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse, while the prosecution argued that they did it to inherit their father's multimillion-dollar estate.