EGN NEWS DESK
LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors in Los Angeles are reviewing new proof within the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez to find out whether or not they need to be serving life sentences for killing their dad and mom of their Beverly Hills mansion greater than 35 years in the past, town’s district legal professional mentioned Thursday.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón mentioned throughout a information convention that there isn’t a query Erik Menendez, 53, and his 56-year-old brother, Lyle Menendez, dedicated the murders, however his workplace will likely be reviewing new proof and can decide on whether or not a resentencing is warranted within the infamous case that captured nationwide consideration.
Read More: What We Learned from ‘The Menendez Brothers’ Netflix Documentary
The new proof offered in a petition features a letter written by Erik Menendez that his attorneys say corroborates the allegations that he was sexually abused by his father.
The brothers have mentioned they killed their dad and mom out of self-defense after enduring a lifetime of bodily, emotional and sexual abuse from them. Their attorneys argue that due to society’s altering views on sexual abuse, that the brothers could not have been convicted of first-degree homicide and sentenced to life with out parole at present.
Bryan Freedman, the prolonged household’s attorneys, mentioned they strongly help the brothers’ launch.
“She needs nothing greater than for them to be launched,” Freedman mentioned of Joan VanderMolen, the brothers’ aunt.
The brothers’ attorneys mentioned the household believed from the start they need to have been charged with manslaughter reasonably than homicide. Manslaughter was not an choice for the jury in the course of the second trial that finally led to the brothers’ homicide conviction, legal professional Mark Geragos mentioned.
Lyle Menendez, who was then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, admitted they fatally shot-gunned their leisure government father Jose Menendez and their mom, Kitty Menendez, in 1989 however mentioned they feared their dad and mom have been about to kill them to forestall the disclosure of the daddy’s long-term sexual molestation of Erik.
Prosecutors on the time contended there was no proof of any molestation. They mentioned the sons have been after their dad and mom’ multimillion-dollar property.
Jurors rejected a demise sentence in favor of life with out parole.
Attorney Cliff Gardner, who additionally represents the brothers, mentioned they’re happy by the district legal professional’s choice. The attorneys have requested for the court docket to vacate their conviction.
“Given at present’s very completely different understanding of how sexual and bodily abuse impacts kids — each girls and boys — and the outstanding new proof, we predict resentencing is the suitable outcome,” Gardner mentioned in an electronic mail Thursday to The Associated Press. “The brothers have served greater than 30 years in jail. That is sufficient.”
The case has gained new consideration in current weeks after Netflix started streaming the true-crime drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
Read More: How Ryan Murphy’s Menendez Brothers Show Has Reignited a Decades-Long Controversy
In an announcement on X posted by his spouse, Erik Menendez known as the present a “dishonest portrayal” of what occurred that has taken them again to a time when prosecutors “constructed a story on a perception system that males weren’t sexually abused, and that males expertise rape trauma otherwise from ladies.”
Gascón mentioned he believes that the subject of sexual assault would have been handled with extra sensitivity if the case had occurred at present.
“We haven’t selected an end result. We are reviewing data,” Gascón mentioned.
He mentioned his workplace didn’t know the “validity” of what was offered on the trial.
Gascón, who’s searching for reelection, famous that greater than 300 individuals have been resentenced throughout his time period, and solely 4 have gone on to commit a criminal offense once more.
A listening to was scheduled for Nov. 29.
Lyle Menendez not too long ago earned a sociology diploma from the University of California, Irvine, by means of a jail program. Geragos mentioned they’ve been mannequin prisoners regardless of believing they might by no means be launched.
“I feel it’s time,” Geragos mentioned. “The household thinks it’s time.”
Reality TV star and movie star persona Kim Kardashian, who has advocated for legal justice reform, additionally weighed in, writing in a private essay shared with NBC News that the outsized media consideration on the primary trial that was nationally televised denied them justice.
She famous with “their struggling and tales of abuse ridiculed in skits on ‘Saturday Night Live’” that they have been painted as “two boastful, wealthy youngsters from Beverly Hills who killed their dad and mom out of greed. There was no room for empathy, not to mention sympathy.”
“Erik and Lyle had no probability of a good trial towards this backdrop,” Kardashian wrote.
