Congratulations to Francisco Cano for booking a role in the Lifetime MOW, “Menendez”.
Nico Tortorella (Younger), Myko Olivier (Glee) and Benito Martinez (American Crime) round out the lead cast in Lifetime’s original movie about the Menendez brothers’ infamous double-murder case.
Tortorella and Olivier will play brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez, respectively, and Martinez will play their father Jose Menendez. They join previously announced Courtney Love, who plays mother Kitty Menendez.
Based on the true story, the movie explores the inner lives and motivation behind the murders of entertainment executive Jose Menendez and his wife Kitty at the hands of their sons Lyle and Erik in 1989. In the months that followed the killings, Lyle and Erik spent their inheritance lavishly, adding to investigators’ suspicions that they were involved in the parents’ deaths. After months of guilt consumed Erik, he confessed to the murders to his psychologist, leading to the eventual arrests of him and older brother Lyle.
FILE–Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez leave the courtroom in Santa Monica, Calif., in this Aug. 6, 1990 file photo. The brothers were found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy Wednesday, March 20, 1996, of the August 1989 murders oftheir parents in their second trial in the Van Nuys Superior Court in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)
Their Los Angeles trial became a national sensation as the public devoured court testimony and the brothers testified that the murders were driven by a lifetime of sexual abuse by their father. After a mistrial and deadlocked jury, the brothers were later re-tried and convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. Erik and Lyle remain incarcerated today, serving their time in separate prisons nearly 30 years since murdering their parents.