Lyle and Erik Menendez have as soon as once more turn into a serious focal point as they proceed to serve life sentences with out parole for the 1989 homicide of their dad and mom, José and Kitty Menendez.
Their case gained renewed consideration first by Ryan Murphy‘s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, adopted by a Netflix documentary that featured beforehand unreleased telephone name recordings between the brothers and director Alejandro Hartmann from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, the place they’re incarcerated.
With this renewed focus, new proof, and an upcoming courtroom listening to, Lyle and Erik, now 56 and 53, could have an opportunity at freedom. For readers to remain up to date on the Menendez brothers’ case, HollywoodLife has compiled all the important thing data under.
Is the Menendez Case Being Reopened?
Erik and Lyle’s resentencing listening to has been scheduled for December 11. The date was set on October 30 by Los Angeles County Superior Court docket Choose Michael Jesic, after prosecutors submitted a advice for the brothers’ resentencing. Los Angeles County prosecutors have beneficial that the brothers obtain a brand new sentence of fifty years to life. As a result of they had been underneath 26 years outdated on the time of the crimes, they’d be eligible for parole instantly underneath a California regulation that went into impact in 2018.
The Menendez brothers beforehand had a courtroom listening to set for November 29, 2024, in response to Selection, which adopted the invention of proof suggesting that their father, Jose, sexually abused his youngsters.
“We’ve been given proof, together with a photocopy of a letter allegedly despatched by one of many brothers to a different member of the family, discussing being the sufferer of molestation,” Los Angeles District Lawyer George Gascón shared, per the outlet. He additionally talked about, “We’ve acquired proof offered by the protection, together with claims from a member of the Menudo band who alleged he was molested by the daddy.”
Roy Rosselló, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band sensation Menudo, spoke out within the 2023 Peacock documentary Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, the place he alleged that he was abused by the music govt when he was 14.
Will There Be a Retrial?
It’s at the moment unclear if the brothers will face a retrial, however choices for resentencing and doable clemency have been set into movement by Gascón. Nonetheless, he was lately unseated by former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman, who is about to take workplace on December 2.
Hochman revealed his preliminary plan for the case, telling CNN, “I should evaluation the confidential jail recordsdata for every brother, the transcripts from each trials, and communicate to the prosecutors, regulation enforcement, protection counsel, and the victims’ relations. Solely then can I decide. If for some motive I want further time, I’ll ask the courtroom for that point.”
He added, “If I ask for a delay, it gained’t be a delay for delay’s sake as a result of I believe the Menendez brothers, the sufferer relations, the general public need to have a call accomplished as quickly as it may be accomplished in an intensive method.”
Why Did the Menendez Brothers Kill Their Dad and mom?
The truth that the brothers—then 21 and 18—dedicated the crime was by no means doubtful through the trial, however their motivation has divided opinions over the a long time.
In the course of the proceedings, the brothers claimed they had been abused all through their childhood by their dad and mom. At their first trial, their legal professional, Leslie Abramson, argued that they killed their dad and mom in self-defense, fearing that their dad and mom would kill them in the event that they disclosed the years of alleged molestation they’d suffered at their father’s fingers. She informed The Washington Publish in 1996, “These are usually not murderers. These are troubled children in a really troublesome and grotesque house atmosphere, they usually cracked.” On the time, many believed the motive was their dad and mom’ inheritance cash.
Should you or anybody you realize has been sexually abused, name the Nationwide Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). A educated workers member will present confidential, judgment-free assist in addition to native assets to help in therapeutic, recovering and extra.
Should you or somebody you realize is combating substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Providers Administration (SAMHSA) Nationwide Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
