CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses child sexual abuse.
Some 35 years after the infamous murders of their parents, the legal case of Erik and Lyle Menendez is set to be reviewed by Los Angeles prosecutors.
The case — which centres around the brothers’ fatal shooting of Jose and Kitty Menedez in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989 — is being revisited by LA county’s district attorney George Gascón, in light of new evidence put forth by Erik and Lyle’s lawyers.
Gascón said in a press conference on Thursday that the brothers’ lawyers have requested the court either alter their sentence or vacate their convictions, which saw both of them receive life-long prison sentences in 1996. A hearing for the court’s review of the case is scheduled for November 29.
The new evidence presented by the siblings’ lawyers includes a letter written by Erik, the youngest brother, which potentially corroborates his and Lyle’s allegations they were sexually abused by their father.
Defence attorney Cliff Gardner claims the letter was written to Erik and Lyle’s cousin, Andy Cano, eight months before the murders.
The letter isn’t the only new evidence that prompted the court’s review of the case. Last year, Roy Rosselló — a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo — alleged that Jose had sexually assaulted him on at least three occasions while he was a teenager back in the early-80s.
“We will evaluate all of it,” Gascón said of the new evidence brought forth ahead of the review. “We are not at this point ready to say that we either believe or do not believe that information”.
Gascón said the court has a “moral and an ethical obligation” to revisit the case since the brothers have already spent over three decades in prison, and the court must determine whether they have “paid back their dues to society”.
It comes amid a flurry of renewed attention around the case in the wake of Monsters: The Erik & Lyle Menendez Story. The Ryan Murphy-created Netflix series, which dramatises the murders and subsequent trials, has stirred controversy from both audiences and its real-life counterparts.
In a statement shared after the surging popularity of the series, the Menendez family denounced Monsters as a “grotesque shockadrama” and criticised the “dishonest portrayal” of the namesake brothers.
Murphy later defended the series in response to the backlash, saying it was “the best thing that has happened” to the brothers and claiming “they should be sending me flowers” for all the newfound attention the show has gotten them.
Elsewhere, it was revealed that Kim Kardashian — who starred in fellow Murphy series American Horror Story: Delicate — visited the Menendez brothers in prison last month with Cooper Koch, the actor who portrays Erik in Monsters.
Lead image: Ted Soqui/Sygma via Getty Images
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