The Menendez family has spoken out in hopes that new evidence will convince Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon to release the brothers.
Family members and attorney Mark Geragos held a press conference Wednesday calling for a revised sentence, allowing Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, to walk free.
“If they were the Menendez sisters, they wouldn’t be in custody,” Geragos said of the treatment the brothers received in their trial for the murder of their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez.
The family argued that the public at the time of the brothers’ trial did not understand the sexual abuse of boys, with Geragos citing Saturday Night Live sketches that mocked Erik and Lyle.
Kitty’s sister Joan Andersen VanderMolen also spoke at the news conference, describing the pain the family has felt for more than thirty years.
“As tragic as their actions were, they were the desperate response of two boys trying to survive their father’s unspeakable cruelty,” Vandermolen said.
About two dozen members of the family and attorney Mark Geragos held a news conference Wednesday asking for a revised sentence that would allow the Menendez brothers to walk free.
Kitty’s sister Joan Andersen VanderMolen also spoke at the press conference, describing the pain the family has felt for more than 30 years
She added: “The truth is that Lyle and Erik were failed by the very people who should have protected them: their parents, the system and society as a whole.”
The family introduced a coalition called “Justice for Eric and Lyle,” sharing how the brothers lived lives of purpose during their 35 years in prison — even though they didn’t expect to ever be released.
They also said they have started a petition calling on people to support the brothers’ conviction and release.
“Lyle and Erik deserve a chance to heal, and our family deserves a chance to heal with them,” said one of the brothers’ cousins, Anamaria Baralt.
Baralt also read a statement from her mother, Jose’s sister, which said, “My prayer is that I live long enough to see my nephews again and hug them one more time.”
The two men were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1996 after a retrial.
“Lyle and Erik deserve a chance to heal, and our family deserves a chance to heal with them,” said one of the brothers’ cousins, Anamaria Baralt.
One of Kitty’s cousins, Brian Andersen Jr., said, “I’ve known Erik and Lyle all my life. I can tell you without a doubt that they are not the villains they are portrayed as.
“They were boys, young, scared and abused by their father in a way that no child should ever experience.”
In addition to the press conference, the relatives took out a full-page ad in the LA Times on Wednesday, featuring photos of the brothers and calling for “JUSTICE FOR ERIK AND LYLE.”
The brothers, then just 18 and 21, murdered their parents Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez with shotguns in their $1 million Beverly Hills home in August 1989.
Their subsequent trial made global headlines. Prosecutors said they were motivated by greed because they stood to inherit $14 million from their parents, while the brothers insisted they were acting against a father who sexually abused them for years and a mother who turned a blind eye to the abuse.
That first trial ended with a hung jury. But at their second trial in 1996 – where the judge refused to allow any evidence that the brothers had been abused by their father – they were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Jose and Kitty were shot fourteen times with 12-gauge shotguns in their $1 million Beverly Hills home in August 1989.
If a jury finds them guilty of voluntary manslaughter instead of murder at a possible retrial, it would trigger their immediate release since they have already served more than the maximum sentence.
Gascon launched a new look at the case last month, saying his office was investigating new evidence of abuse that was not allowed in their trial.
Gascon specifically said he was reviewing shocking allegations last year by Roy Rossello, a former member of the band Menudo, who alleged that Jose Menendez – then a top executive at RCA Records – drugged and raped him in the 1980s when he was still a teenager.
The brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos — who is asking the LA Supreme Court to vacate the convictions — also provided Gascon with new evidence from a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin, saying he had died eight months before the murder was still raped by his father. murders.
Gascon remains non-committal at this time on whether he will push for a return to the court. His office told DailyMail.com: ‘No decision has yet been made on the Menendez case. Once DA Gascón makes a decision, the victims’ relatives and the public will be notified.”
They were sentenced to life in prison in 1996, and the two had not seen each other since
Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted in 1996 of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty, after their first trial was overturned
O’Donnell isn’t the only celebrity to support the brothers’ release. Kim Kardashian issued a statement to NBC News earlier this month, saying, “The trial and punishment these brothers received was more befitting a serial killer than two individuals who endured years of sexual abuse at the hands of the very people they loved and who they trusted.”
New interest in the case has emerged in recent weeks with the premiere of the Netflix drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and the true crime documentary The Menendez Brothers – also on Netflix – which tells how the brothers claimed that they told the police had checked. they returned home from the theater to find their parents slaughtered.
It was initially feared that a vicious killer was on the loose in Beverly Hills, one of America’s wealthiest communities.
But police turned their suspicions to Lyle and Erik after they tried to spend their $14 million inheritance shortly after their parents’ deaths.
The brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos, provided Gascon with new evidence of a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin, saying he was still being raped by his father eight months before the murder.
Chilling crime scene photos show blood-soaked couch where Jose Menendez was shot
Lyle bought a Porsche Carrera, a Rolex watch and two restaurants, while his brother hired a full-time tennis coach to compete in tournaments.
In total, they spent $700,000 between the time of their parents’ deaths and their arrests in March 1990, seven months after the murders.
Erik – who said his father abused him from the ages of six to 12 – stressed in the new Netflix documentary that it is “absurd” to suggest he was having a good time in the immediate aftermath of the murders.
“Everything was meant to cover up this terrible pain of not wanting to live anymore,” he said.
“One of the things that kept me from committing suicide was that I would be a complete failure to my father.”
