More than a dozen family members of Erik and Lyle Menendez have made an emotional call for their release from prison, saying they were “brutalised” and sexually abused by their father and then “vilified” by a society that was not ready to hear that boys could be raped.
The news conference in Los Angeles was the largest gathering of the extended family since the brothers’ 1996 sentencing for the killing of their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion more than 35 years ago.
The public call for their release – by multiple generations and from both sides of their parents’ families – comes less than two weeks after the Los Angeles County district attorney announced his office would be reviewing new evidence to determine whether the brothers should be serving life sentences.
Several of the family members emphasised that in today’s world – which is more aware of the impact of sexual abuse – the brothers would not have been convicted of first-degree murder. Many details of their story of sexual abuse were not permitted in the trial that led to their conviction.
“The whole world was not ready to hear that boys could be raped,” said Joan Andersen VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister, adding “today we know better”.
“I had no idea the extent of the abuse they suffered at the hands of my brother-in-law. None of us did,” she said, explaining that they were “brutalised in the most horrific ways”.
“We know that abuse has long effects, and victims of trauma sometimes act in ways that are very difficult to understand,” she continued.
Lyle Menendez, who was then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, admitted they fatally shot their entertainment executive father, Jose Menendez, and their mother, Kitty Menendez, in 1989 but said they feared their parents were about to kill them to prevent the disclosure of the father’s long-term sexual molestation of Erik.
Prosecutors at the time contended there was no evidence of molestation. They said the sons were after their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate.
The brothers are currently serving life sentences in state prison without the possibility of parole.
“They tried to protect themselves the only way they knew how,” said Brian A Andersen Jr, nephew of Kitty Menendez. “Instead of being seen as victims, they were vilified.”
“They are no longer a threat to society,” he continued.
The brothers have said they killed their parents out of self-defence after enduring a lifetime of physical, emotional and sexual abuse from them.
The family members argue that because of society’s changing views on sexual abuse, that if the trial happened in 2024, the brothers would not have been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole.
“If Lyle and Erik’s case were heard today, with the understanding we now have about abuse and PTSD, there is no doubt in my mind that their sentencing would have been very different,” said Anamaria Baralt, a niece of Jose Menendez.
But not every family member agrees that they should be released.
Kitty Menendez’s brother, Milton Andersen – who is 90 years old – said through a lawyer that he believes “the appropriate sentence” is life in prison without the possibility of parole. Mr Andersen was not available for an interview.
“He believes that there was no molestation that occurred. He believes that the motive was pure greed, because they had just learned that they were going to be taken out of the will,” said Kathy Cady, Mr Andersen’s lawyer.
District attorney George Gascon has said there is no question the brothers committed the 1989 murders, but after his office looks at the new evidence, prosecutors will make a decision on whether a resentencing is warranted in the notorious case that captured national attention.
The evidence includes a letter written by Erik Menendez that his lawyers say corroborates the allegations that he was sexually abused by his father.
Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin pop group Menudo, also recently came forward claiming he was drugged and raped by Jose Menendez, the boys’ father, when he was a teenager in the 1980s.
Menudo were signed under RCA Records, which Jose Menendez was the head of at the time.
These allegations are part of the evidence listed in the petition filed last year by the Menendez brothers’ lawyer to review their case.
A hearing was scheduled for November 29.
The brothers’ lawyers said the family believed from the beginning they should have been charged with manslaughter rather than murder. Manslaughter was not an option for the jury during the second trial that ultimately led to the brothers’ murder conviction, lawyer Mark Geragos previously said.
The case has gained new traction in recent weeks after Netflix began streaming the true-crime drama Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story.
Jurors in 1996 rejected a death sentence in favour of life without parole.
The family members said they were going to walk across the street from the press conference to meet the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office and present arguments for the brothers’ release.
Mr Geragos said he hopes to get them released in time for Joan Andersen VanderMolen’s 93rd birthday next month.
“There’s nothing she’d like more than to have them home for Thanksgiving,” Mr Geragos said.