Erik Menendez (L) and his brother Lyle (R) listen during a pre-trial hearing, on December 29, 1992 … [+]
There’s a major update in the Menendez brothers’ case amid the success and controversy of Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. A new court hearing for Erik and Lyle Menendez has been set for Nov. 29, 2024—nearly three decades after they were convicted of murdering their parents.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced in a press conference on Oct. 3 that he believes the brothers’ case deserves to be reevaluated following the discovery of new evidence and questions regarding the testimony permitted during their second trial.
The new evidence supports the brothers’ claim that they were allegedly molested by their father, Jose Menendez. It includes a letter the brothers’ defense attorney Cliff Gardner says was written by Erik to his cousin, Andy Cano, in December 1988—about eight months before the crime.
Letter from the Superior Court of the State of California, Los Angeles County
“We have been given evidence. We have been given a photocopy of a letter that allegedly was sent by one of the brothers to another family member talking about him being the victim of molestation,” Gascón said at the press conference. “We’ve also got evidence that was provided by the defense, by his lawyers, that one of the members of the Menudo band alleged that he was molested by the father.”
On April 2023, Roy Rosselló, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, alleged that Erik and Lyle’s father, Jose, sexually assaulted him as a teenager. In a sworn affidavit filed in 2023, Rosselló said he visited Jose Menendez’s home in the fall of 1983 or 1984 as a teenager.
Rosselló said he drank “a glass of wine” and then felt like he had “no control” over his body. The band member alleged that Jose took him to a room and raped him. Rossello also stated in the affidavit that Jose sexually abused him in two other instances.
“I know what he did to me in his house,” Rosselló said in the Peacock docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, according to People. “That’s the man here that raped me… That’s the pedophile.”
The new hearing could lead to a retrial or resentencing for Erik and Lyle, but there hasn’t been any decisions yet, Gascón said.
“We are not at this point ready to say that we either believe or do not believe that information, but we’re here to tell you is that we have a moral and an ethical obligation to review what is being presented to us and make a determination based on a resentencing side, whether they deserve to be resentenced — even though they were clearly the murderers — because they have been in prison for years and they have paid back their dues to society,” Gascón explained.
He continued, “If there was evidence that was not presented to the court at that time, and had that evidence been presented, perhaps a jury would have come to a different conclusion.”
On Aug. 20, 1989, Jose and Kitty Menendez were found shot multiple times at close range in the family room of their Beverly Hills mansion. Lyle and Erik, who were 21 and 18 at the time, told investigators they found their parents shot to death when they arrived home. In March 1990, the brothers were arrested for first-degree murder after confessing to the crime on tape.
In the first trial, the brothers were tried together but had separate juries to determine their sentences. Their defense team argued that the brothers killed their parents in self-defense. Ultimately, the judge declared a mistrial; the jurors couldn’t agree on whether the brothers should be convicted of manslaughter because of the alleged abuse or first-degree murder.
In October 1995, the second trial began, and there was only one jury instead of two. Judge Stanley Weisberg also prevented the proceedings from being televised, limited testimony about sexual abuse claims, and prohibited the jury from voting on manslaughter charges instead of murder charges, according to Time.com.
The jury found Lyle and Erik Menendez guilty of first-degree murder, and they were sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole.
In 1998 and 1999, the California Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of California upheld Erik and Lyle’s convictions and declined to review the case. The brothers appealed to the United States District Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but their petitions were denied, according to Variety.
In May 2023, Gardner filed a habeas petition on behalf of the brothers, presenting the letter and Rossello’s affidavit as new evidence. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office previously told “48 Hours” in a statement that they were investigating the claims made in the habeas petition.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is streaming on Netflix.