The Menendez family has spoken out in hopes that new evidence will convince Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon to release the brothers.
Members of Over’s family and defense attorney Mark Geragos held a news conference Wednesday calling for a revised sentence, which could set Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, free.
“If it were the Menendez sisters, they wouldn’t be in custody,” Geragos said of the treatment the brothers received at their trial for the murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez.
The family argued that at the time of the brothers’ trial, the public did not understand the sexual abuse of children, and Geragos mentioned Saturday Night Live sketches that mocked Erik and Lyle.
Kitty’s sister, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, also spoke at the press conference and described the pain the family has felt for more than 30 years.
“His actions, while tragic, were the desperate response of two children trying to survive their father’s unspeakable cruelty,” Vandermolen said.
About two dozen family members and defense attorney Mark Geragos held a news conference Wednesday to ask for a revised sentence that could set the Menendez brothers free.
Kitty’s sister, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, also spoke at the press conference and described the pain the family has felt for more than 30 years.
He added: “The truth is that Lyle and Erik were failed by the very people who should have protected them: their parents, the system and society in general.”
The family introduced a coalition called “Justice for Eric and Lyle” and talked about how the brothers have lived a purposeful life in their 35 years in prison, even though they never expected to be released.
They also said they have started a petition for people to support the new sentence and the release of the brothers.
“Lyle and Erik deserve a chance to heal, and our family deserves a chance to heal with them,” said one of the brothers’ cousins, Anamaría Baralt.
Baralt also read a statement from his mother, Jose’s sister, that said, “My prayer is that I live long enough to see my nephews again and hug them once more.”
The two men were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1996 after a retrial.
“Lyle and Erik deserve a chance to heal, and our family deserves a chance to heal with them,” said one of the brothers’ cousins, Anamaría Baralt.
One of Kitty’s nephews, Brian Andersen Jr., said: ‘I’ve known Erik and Lyle all my life. I can tell you without a doubt that they are not the villains they have been portrayed to be.
“They were children, young, scared and abused by their father in a way that no child should ever experience.”
Kitty’s niece, Karen VanderMolen, said her sister had evidence of the abuse the brothers suffered, but it was not allowed at trial.
“My sister Diane had evidence of her abuse that was not even allowed to be presented at trial,” he said.
“I can’t help but think about how things would be different if the world had known the truth back then, or if it had been the Menendez sisters.”
José and Kitty were shot 14 times with 12-gauge shotguns in their million-dollar home in Beverly Hills in August 1989.
Kitty’s niece, Karen VanderMolen, said her sister had evidence of the abuse the brothers suffered, but it was not allowed at trial.
In addition to the press conference, family members placed a full-page ad in Wednesday’s LA Times, showing photos of the brothers and calling for ‘JUSTICE FOR ERIK AND LYLE.’
The brothers, then only 18 and 21 years old, killed their parents José and Mary Louise ‘Kitty’ Menéndez with shotguns inside their million-dollar home in Beverly Hills in August 1989.
His subsequent trial caused headlines around the world. Prosecutors said they were motivated by greed as they stood to inherit $14 million from their parents, while the brothers insisted they acted against a father who sexually abused them for years and a mother who turned a blind eye to the abuse. .
That first trial ended with a hung jury. But at their second trial in 1996, where the judge refused to allow any evidence that the brothers had been sexually abused by their father, they were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
If a jury in any potential retrial finds them guilty of voluntary manslaughter instead of murder, it would trigger their immediate release since they have already served more than the maximum sentence.
Gascon took a fresh look at the case last month, saying his office was investigating new evidence of abuse that was not allowed at his trial.
Specifically, Gascón said he was reviewing shocking allegations made last year by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the band Menudo, who claimed that José Menéndez, then a top executive at RCA Records, drugged and raped him in the 1980s when he was a teenager
The brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos, who is asking the Los Angeles Superior Court to overturn the convictions, also provided Gascón with new evidence from a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin in which he said his father was still raping him. eight months before sentencing. murders.
Gascón is currently noncommittal about whether he will push for the case to be returned to court, his office telling DailyMail.com: ‘No decision has been made on the Menendez case. Once Prosecutor Gascón has made a decision, the victims’ families and the public will be notified.’
They were sentenced to life in prison in 1996, the two had not seen each other since.
Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted of the murder of their parents, José and Kitty, in 1996 after their first trial was declared a mistrial.
O’Donnell is not the only celebrity to support the brothers’ release. Kim Kardashian made a statement to NBC News earlier this month, saying: “The trial and punishment these brothers received were more befitting a serial killer than two people who endured years of sexual abuse by the same people.” that they loved and trusted.
New interest in the case has been sparked in recent weeks with the release of the Netflix drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and the true crime documentary The Menendez Brothers, also on Netflix, which tells how the brothers claimed to be police officers. . They returned home from the theater to discover that their parents had been massacred.
At first it was feared that a cruel killer was on the loose in Beverly Hills, one of the richest communities in the United States.
But police shifted their suspicions toward Lyle and Erik after they set out to spend their $14 million inheritance shortly after their parents died.
The brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos, provided Gascón with new evidence from a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin in which he said his father was still raping him eight months before the murder.
Chilling crime scene photos show blood-soaked couch where José Menéndez was shot
Lyle bought a Porsche Carrera, a Rolex watch and two restaurants, while his brother hired a full-time tennis coach to start competing in tournaments.
In total, they spent $700,000 between the time of their parents’ deaths and their arrests in March 1990, seven months after the murders.
Erik, who said his father abused him from the age of six to 12, insisted in the new Netflix documentary that it is “absurd” to suggest he was having a good time immediately after the murders.
“It was all to cover up this horrible pain of not wanting to be alive,” he said.
“One of the things that kept me from committing suicide was that I would be a complete failure to my father.”