The Menendez brothers, convicted of murdering their parents in 1989, could be closer to being freed thanks to a renewed legal push and growing public interest fueled by Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
Lyle and Erik Menendez, then 21 and 18, fatally shot their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home as they watched television.
The brothers claimed their actions were the result of years of sexual abuse by their father, a top Hollywood executive. Authorities, however, said greed was the real motive, citing a spending spree that followed the murders.
Despite their 1996 conviction and sentences of life in prison without parole, the brothers have continued to fight for a new trial.
Their lawyers, who are “cautiously optimistic” about the brothers’ release, filed a petition in May 2023 citing new evidence, including allegations of sexual abuse against their father by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, who claimed José raped him in the 1980s.
Lyle and Erik Menendez fatally shot their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home while they were watching television.
Pictured: Jose Menendez, father of Lyle and Erik Menendez, in 1988. He and his wife, Kitty Menendez, were found murdered in their Beverly Hills, California, mansion in August 1989.
His team also cited a letter Erik wrote to his cousin, Andy Cano, describing the abuse months before his parents’ deaths.
“No one had looked at (the cousin’s) personal effects until 2015, and that’s when they were found, 10 years after our last appeal,” said the Menendez brothers’ post-conviction attorney, Mark Geragos. He told the people.
He argued that the brothers’ second trial violated constitutional protections and that new evidence, including Menudo’s accuser and Erik’s letter, requires a new trial.
He also said the judge had three options: deny the motion, order the prosecution to respond or issue an informal response. The judge chose the latter option and the prosecution has taken it seriously for the past 15 months.
Geragos said the brothers’ defense team conducted a probationary examination of Kitty’s older sister and obtained statements from 24 relatives who requested a new sentence.
They have also submitted additional documents and evidence for the court’s consideration.
Geragos said that if the case were retried today, the outcome would be significantly different.
Pictured: Nicholas Chavez as Lyle Menendez, Chloe Sevigny as Kitty Menendez, Javier Bardem as José Menendez and Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez, in the Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story
“I’ve tried this case today, 99 times out of 100, it’s voluntary manslaughter. Twenty years, 30 years, the culture has changed, and I think it’s become more enlightened or evolved, and people are starting to realize that maybe there was a frenzy at the time, and upon more serious reflection, they realize they didn’t get a fair trial,” he said.
Los Angeles defense attorney Neama Rahmani told PEOPLE that while “it was tragic that the brothers were abused,” the chances of them walking free are “very unlikely.”
“It’s a Hail Mary argument,” he said. “In my view, it’s not enough. A corroborating note or the fact that a victim abused another person is not the kind of evidence that normally results in a writ of habeas corpus being granted.”
The case is now the subject of the second season of Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’, starring Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny.