Menendez brother calls 'Monsters' actor from prison to celebrate Emmy nomination for portrayal
Joseph "Lyle" Menendez, one of two Beverly Hills brothers convicted of shotgunning his parents from behind in 1989, used a prison phone to call the actor who portrayed his brother on the recent Netflix show, "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story," to congratulate him on his first-ever Emmy nomination, according to a new report.
Cooper Koch, 29, played the younger Menendez, who, along with his brother, snuck up behind their parents and opened fire while they were watching TV and eating ice cream in their living room.
He was reportedly on the phone with Variety discussing his recently announced nomination when Lyle beeped in from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.
"He was just like, 'Congratulations, I’m so excited for you. I saw you were at Wimbledon. I was so jealous,'" Koch told the outlet after a 10-minute hold. "I said, 'Well, I’ve been back in tennis lessons, so I’m getting ready to play you and beat you when you’re out.'"
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Koch received the nod for Best Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The competition includes Colin Farrell, who played the starring role in "The Penguin" on HBO.
Koch played Lyle's younger brother, Erik, a former nationally ranked junior tennis player, in the Netflix series.
"I know them now. I feel like they’re my friends, like my brothers," Koch told the outlet. "So it does kind of feel normal. It’ll feel way better when they’re out of there."
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The Menendez brothers, 57 and 54 years old, recently received sentence reductions from a Los Angeles judge. Koch showed up for at least one of their hearings during the ordeal.
Initially serving life sentences with no chance for parole, they both have hearings coming up before the end of summer that could lead to their release.
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The bloody crime, in which the duo ambushed their parents in the living room of their mansion before blaming the mob and going on a spending spree, saw renewed attention in recent years, thanks in part to "Monsters" as well as a batch of true-crime documentaries that introduced the crime and evidence that their father had been sexually abusing them to a new generation.
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They claimed they killed their parents in self-defense, allegedly fearing for their lives after they told their father they would expose his child sex abuse.
Separately from their sentence reductions, the brothers are seeking a new trial, alleging that evidence of that abuse had been suppressed from their second trial, which ended with convictions for both of them. That evidence includes claims from Roy Rosello, a former boy band star in the 1980s group, Menudo, who also alleged sex abuse at their father's hands.
The brothers had used evidence of sex abuse in their first trial, which ended in a mistrial. Much of it was excluded the second time around.
Their petition for a new trial is pending.
They will appear before the California parole board on August 21 and 22.