Coming soon: ‘Law & Order: True Crime,’ anthologizing Menendez brothers' case
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The producers of “Law & Order” are taking a page out of “American Crime Story” to create their own anthology drama series with the Menendez brothers case at the center of their debut season.
Similar to the trial of O.J. Simpson in the highly popular dramatized FX show, producer Dick Wolf and NBC will bring to life the case of the Erik and Lyle Menendez, who were convicted of the 1989 murder of their wealthy parents.
The network announced Wednesday the story will be told in an eight-part series and follow the media sensation that was broadcast on Court TV and captivated a nation, Deadline reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Lyle and Erik grew up in an affluent Cuban-American family. At the time of the murders they were 18 and 21, respectively. While they were tried separately, they were eventually convicted in a third trial after no verdicts were rendered in the first two because of hung juries.
“We’ve been talking with Dick about how to create an event series coming out of the Law & Order ripped-from-the-headlines brand,” said Jennifer Salke, President of NBC Entertainment, in a statement. “This case captured the public’s attention like nothing before it, as it examined taboo issues such as patricide and matricide in gruesome detail, all against a backdrop of privilege and wealth. We will re-create the cultural and societal surroundings of both the murders and trials when people were not only obsessed with the case but examining how and why these brothers committed these heinous crimes.”
The Menendez case was also made into a television movie, “Menendez: Killing in Beverly Hills,” in 1994.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In a statement, Wolf said he was "excited to extend the franchise with a scripted limited anthology series that focuses on a high-profile trial. There is no shortage of compelling real-life criminal cases, and the Menendez trial was more scintillating than most crime fiction.”