THE Menendez brothers are expected to receive a lifeline of hope in their fight for freedom after spending over 35 years in prison.
Lyle and Erik Menendez, the infamous brothers convicted of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty, with a pair of shotguns in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989, could potentially walk free from a San Diego prison.
On Thursday, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón is expected to request that a judge consider resentencing Lyle and Erik, according to The New York Times.
Gascón is expected to formally make the announcement during a press conference after disclosing on October 3 that his office was reevaluating the Menendez brothers’ case.
However, any recommendation by Gascón will ultimately be made by a judge who will decide whether the evidence presented warrants resentencing.
Nearly 30 years since Lyle and Erik Menendez were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, their case reemerged in the spotlight following the release of the Netflix series Monsters in September.
The Ryan Murphy crime docuseries, which garnered over 12.3 million views in its first-weekend release, presented the murders through different perspectives as it explored what might have led the siblings to kill their parents.
The Netflix show highlighted the alleged sexual abuse Lyle and Erik suffered at the hands of their father, Jose Menendez.
MENENDEZ CASE REEVALUATED
During an October 3 press conference, Gascón said his office was closely investigating two new pieces of evidence related to the Menendez brothers’ case.
One is a letter written by Erik, eight months before the murders, to his cousin, Andy Cano, where he appears to reference the alleged abuse by his father.
“I’ve been trying to avoid dad. It’s still happening, Andy, but it’s worse for me now,” Erik wrote in December 1988.
“I never know when [the abuse] is going to happen and it’s driving me crazy. Every night, I stay up thinking he might come in.”
Cano had testified at both trials, telling the courtroom that Erik, at age 13, privately confessed to him that his father had been touching him.
The second piece of evidence was the sexual abuse allegations brought forth by Roy Rosselló against Jose – who at the time was a powerful and wealthy executive at RCA Records.
Rosselló, now 54, was a member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, who shot to fame in the mid-1980s and was signed to RCA International in 1983.
In the three-part Peacock docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, Rosselló alleged the band’s manager at the time, Edgardo Dize, offered him to Jose as a means to seal their multi-million dollar deal with RCA.
Rosselló, who was 13 when he joined the band, accused Diaz of sexually abusing him during his time with Menudo.
He said Diaz brought him to Jose’s home in New Jersey, where he alleged the former music executive drugged and raped him in early 1980.
“That’s the man here that raped me,” Rosselló said, pointing at a photo of Jose in the Peacock docuseries.
“That’s the guy. That’s the pedophile. I was in terrible pain for a week. I could barely stand the pain. I couldn’t even more.”
Erik Menendez’s letter to his cousin
A hand written letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin about his dad’s alleged abuse has sparked a review of the case that could set him and his brother free from jail.
Erik’s letter was written in December 1988, eight months before the double murders in August 1989.
The letter reads in full:
“I’ve been trying to avoid dad. It’s still happening, Andy, but it’s worse for me now. I can’t explain it. He so overweight that I can’t stand to see him.
“I never know when it’s going to happen and it’s driving me crazy. Every night I stay up thinking he might come in.
“I need to put it out of my mind. I know what you said before but I’m afraid. You just don’t know dad like I do. He’s crazy!
“He’s warned me a hundred times about telling anyone, especially Lyle.
“Am I a serious whimpus? I don’t know I’ll make it through this. I can handle it, Andy. I need to stop thinking about it.”
Rosselló also alleged that Jose sexually abused him on two other occasions, right before and after a performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
Appellate attorney Cliff Gardner filed a habeas petition in May 2023 asking the district attorney’s office to review the new evidence.
A habeas petition is a legal document that a prisoner files to challenge the legality of their conviction or sentence, arguing that their rights were violated during the criminal proceedings.
‘TRYING TO SURVIVE’
Weeks before Gascón’s bombshell decision, nearly two dozen relatives of Lyle and Erik held a press conference calling for the brothers’ release.
Joan Anderson VanderMolen, the sister of Kitty, said she struggled for years with the nightmare of her sister and brother-in-law’s murders.
“Their actions, while tragic, were the desperate response of two boys trying to survive the unspeakable cruelty of their father,” Vandermolen, 85, said.
“The truth is that Lyle and Erik were failed by the very people who were supposed to protect them.”
Brian Anderson, Kitty’s nephew, called the brothers survivors who deserve a second chance.
“They are no longer a threat to society,” he said.
Karen VanderMolen, Kitty’s niece, also defended the brothers, saying they were trapped in the alleged abuse.
“I forgive my cousins. I know they were acting out of fear and desperation,” she added.
TRIALS OF ERIK AND LYLE
On August 20, 1989, Lyle and Erik, then 21 and 18, respectively, stormed into the den of their Beverly Hills mansion, wielding shotguns, and shot their parents at point-blank range.
Jose was shot six times, including a fatal shot to the back of the head, while Kitty was shot 10 times.
Lyle eventually called 911, sobbing over the phone to the dispatcher that his parents had been killed and implied it may have been a business-related mafia hit.
In the months after the murders, Lyle and Erik went on a lavish shopping spree, spending about $700,000 on a Porsche, Rolexes, a tennis coach, and even a restaurant in Princeton, New Jersey.
The brothers even choose to live in adjoining condominiums in nearby Marina del Rey, dining at extravagant restaurants and booking overseas flights to the Caribbean and London.
Erik eventually confessed about the murders to his psychologist, Jerome Oziel, who then told his mistress, Judalon Smyth, who went to police.
On March 8, 1990, Lyle was arrested outside their Beverly Hills home, while Erik turned himself in three days later after returning to Los Angeles from Israel.
The brothers’ first trial became an international spectacle and was broadcast by CourtTV in 1993.
The courtroom witnessed Erik and Lyle break down in tears on the stand as they testified about the sexual, emotional, and physical abuse they allegedly suffered at the hands of their father.
Lyle and Erik did not deny carrying out the shooting but testified they killed Jose and Kitty in self-defense out of fear their parents would kill them first to prevent stories emerging about their alleged abuse.
However, despite the brothers’ emotional testimony, the trial ended in two deadlocked juries, each assigned to deliberate over one sibling separately.
Lyle and Erik’s defense suffered a major blow during their retail in 1995 after a judge ruled that most of the evidence of their alleged sexual abuse be withheld from the jury.
The brothers were eventually convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
Timeline of the Menendez brothers case
Erik and Lyle Menendez have been serving a life imprisonment sentence without the possibility of parole since July 1996 after being convicted of shooting their parents to death in their Beverly Hills home in August 1989
Timeline:
August 20, 1989 – José and Kitty Menendez are found dead from multiple shotgun wounds.
March 8, 1990 – Lyle is arrested for the murders
March 11, 1990 – Erik turns himself in
July 20, 1993 – Highly publicized trial begins and ends weeks later in a mistrial
October 11, 1995 – Second trial begins
March 20, 1996 – Menendez brothers are convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder
July 2, 1996 – Menendez brothers are sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and sent to separate prisons
February 2018 – Lyle is transferred to the San Diego prison where Erik is held
April 4, 2018 – Erik and Lyle are reunited
May 2023 – Attorney representing the Menendez brothers files a habeas petition
September 19, 2024 – Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story comes out on Netflix
October 3, 2024: Los Angeles authorities reviewing new evidence in connection with the brothers’ convictions
October 7, 2024 – The Menendez Brothers documentary film comes out on Netflix
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
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