Relatives of Lyle and Erik Menendez on Wednesday pleaded for the release of the long-imprisoned brothers as US prosecutors review new evidence concerning the infamous 1989 murder of their parents.
The grisly shotgun slayings of wealthy music mogul Jose Menendez and his wife Kitty in their Beverly Hills home — and their sons’ subsequent, televised murder trials — became the subject of a media frenzy. A hit Netflix series has recently sparked fresh interest in the case.
The brothers, aged 21 and 18 at the time of the murders, tearfully testified they killed their parents for fear of their own lives after years of sexual abuse by their father.
They were convicted of first-degree murder and have been serving life sentences in prison without possibility of parole since their sentencing in 1996.
“As details of Lyle and Eric’s abuse came to light, it became clear that their actions, while tragic, were the desperate response of two boys trying to survive the unspeakable cruel(ty) of their father,” their 92-year-old aunt Joan VanderMolen said Wednesday.
“Lyle and Erik have already paid a heavy price, discarded by a system that failed to recognize their pain,” she told a news conference attended by some 30 relatives.
Their initial trial, starting in 1993, was one of the first televised murder cases to make daily headlines around the world. It ended in a mistrial due to a deadlocked jury, but they were found guilty in a second trial.
Prosecutors argued they conspired to murder their parents in order to inherit their $14 million fortune.
Last year, the brothers’ attorneys filed a court petition setting out new evidence which they said demonstrates Jose Menendez’s history of sexual abuse.
Among the new evidence is a letter Erik wrote to a cousin months before the murders, saying “I’ve been trying to avoid dad. It’s still happening… Every night I stay up thinking he might come in.”
Former Latino boy band member Roy Rossello said in a documentary series released last year that he was drugged and raped by Jose Menendez in the 1980s.
The brothers’ attorneys have called for a resentencing, which could see their clients released from prison given the lengthy time already spent behind bars.
Prosecutors said in a statement Wednesday that Los Angeles’s criminal justice system “has developed a more modern understanding of sexual violence since the Menendez brothers first faced prosecution.”
“Today, our office acknowledges that sexual violence is a pervasive issue affecting countless individuals — of all gender identities,” they wrote, confirming the case is being reviewed on multiple fronts.
Earlier this month, Los Angeles district attorney George Gascon told reporters he had “a moral and an ethical obligation to review what is being presented to us.”
His comments came two weeks after the release on Netflix of crime drama “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” The streaming giant also put out a documentary film, “The Menendez Brothers,” last week.
Gascon, who is running for re-election on a criminal reform platform, acknowledged the initial Netflix show resulted in a large number of calls to his office about the case.
A hearing is scheduled for November 26.
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