They killed their parents, but the Menendez brothers could now be freed

Lyle and Erik Menendez, better known as the Menendez brothers, are fighting to have their murder case retried based on newly uncovered evidence of their father’s prolonged sexual abuse.

Both brothers are serving life without parole for the 1989 murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, and have long claimed they killed them out of fear for their lives.

In their explosive first trial, the Menendez brothers gave heartbreaking testimony about the sickening sexual abuse they endured for years at the hands of Jose Menendez, while their mother sat back and let it happen. Erik and Lyle admitted to shooting their parents with 12-gauge shotguns.

Two juries deadlocked in 1993 over whether to convict the couple of premeditated murder or manslaughter (which carries a much lesser sentence) based on the brother’s defense that they believed their father would kill them.

However, in their second trial in 1995, the judge refused to admit witnesses and evidence regarding Jose’s sexual abuse.

Earlier this month, their attorneys filed a motion for Los Angeles Superior Court, arguing that the brothers deserve a new trial based on a recently unearthed contemporaneous letter written by Erik about his father’s abuse, as well as new rape allegations brought against Jose Menendez by a former member of the group Menudo.

The Menendez brothers think that if this evidence had been presented to the jury, they might have come back with a different verdict. Moreover, a modern jury may even be more sympathetic to Erik and Lyle a third time and view them as victims as well as perpetrators.