Convicted killers Lyle and Erik Menendez, NBA trading card viral once again
With the convicted killers inching closer to freedom in the US, a notorious image of the brothers has gone viral once again.
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Online marketplace eBay might need to prepare for renewed interest in one of the most infamous trading cards in NBA history.
The card in question is innocent enough — on the surface anyway — depicting former New York Knicks guard Mark Jackson during the 1990-91 season.
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Jackson was a one-time All-Star, played for seven teams and is still in the top 10 for all-time assists.
But this story really has nothing to do with Mark Jackson, who went into coaching and then broadcasting after his playing career ended in 2004.
It first came to light in December 2018 that the card also features two of the most infamous figures in American legal history in the background.
That would be Lyle and Erik Menendez, the brothers who brutally murdered their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in Beverly Hills back on August 20, 1989.
The brothers famously went on a wild spending spree after the murders, buying cars, watches, clothes and also attending a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden.
Once it became known the brothers were sitting courtside at that Knicks game, the trading card blew up on eBay, jumping from around 10 cents to more than $70.
That was until eBay removed the card from sale, referring to its terms and conditions related to “an item affiliated with a known murderer”.
“eBay does not allow items that were owned by or affiliated with many murderers and serial killers,” an email from the company continued.
Those terms were revised in the years since and interest in the card is set to increase once again after Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon recommended the brothers be re-sentenced for their crimes.
Originally sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in July 1996, Lyle and Erik have spent more than three decades behind bars all told.
Lyle was 21 and Erik just 18 at the time of the murders.
Tarnished as greedy rich kids who didn’t want to wait for a multimillion-dollar inheritance from their wealthy parents, the brothers always maintained they were the victims of sustained sexual, physical and psychological abuse at the hands of their father and acted in self-defence.
Interest in the case has roared back into the mainstream following the recent releases of two Netflix specials, docudrama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and documentary The Menendez Brothers.
The understanding and treatment of sexual abuse has advanced enormously since the 1990s, particularly abuse suffered by men.
The brothers’ claims were dismissed as a feeble excuse at the time, with Judge Stanley Weisberg ultimately ruling they could not be used at all in their retrial.
Gascon told a packed press conference last Friday (AEDT) he would ask a judge to rule that the men should have their sentence reviewed.
If a judge accepts his recommendation, the pair will be made eligible for immediate parole under a 2015 bill passed in California that allows individuals sentenced to life in prison before the age of 25 to seek parole after serving 25 years.
“After a very careful review of all the arguments made … I came to a place where I believe that, under the law, resentencing is appropriate and I’m going to recommend that to a court tomorrow,” Gascon said.
eBay has started to pull listings of the Mark Jackson-Menendez Brothers cards, telling sellers their items violate policy because they are “affiliated with a known murderer.†pic.twitter.com/ZMzqSgYh1M
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) December 11, 2018
A judge will have the final say in the case during a hearing on November 26.
Gascon said earlier this month there was “a moral and an ethical obligation” to review evidence submitted by the Menendez’s lawyers last year.
This included a sworn statement by former Menudo boy band member Roy Rossello, alleging Jose sexually assaulted him in the 1980s, and a letter Erik wrote to a cousin months before the killings, alluding to the abuse he endured.
“I believe the brothers were subject to a tremendous amount of dysfunction in their home and molestation,” Gascon said on Friday.
“There is no excuse for murder and I will never imply that what we’re doing here is excusing that.
“But I understand that people get desperate.”
He said the brothers “have paid their debt to society” and that it was an important chance for “self-reflection”.
“Because often, we don’t believe victims of sexual assault, whether they’re women (or) men,” he added.
“(Our) own implicit and sometimes explicit bias around sexual abuse and sexual assault often leads us to severe injustices in our community.”
After 22 years in separate prisons, the brothers were reunited in 2018 and are now both housed inside San Diego’s Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility.
The facility does not limit interaction between inmates, and Erik’s wife, Tammi Menendez, said the two killers enjoyed a “heartfelt reunion”.
Both men have found love and married wives while behind bars.
Lyle tied the knot to model Anna Erickson in 1996, before marrying Rebecca Sneed in 2003. His brother has been married to former pen pal Tammi since 1999.
Interest in the Mark Jackson card has erupted, with a number of versions getting a spike in views over the last 24 hours and well over 250 of them getting sold.
The price can vary greatly depending on quality, with the cheapest version available at the time of writing listed for around $7.50 and the highest at $74.
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