Why the Family of the Menendez Brothers Are Calling for Their Release

Family members of Erik and Lyle Menendez, the two brothers serving a life sentence for fatally shooting their parents—Jose and Kitty Menendez—in their Beverly Hills home in 1989, called for the pair’s release and resentencing at a Wednesday news conference in Los Angeles. 

During the press conference, family members announced a new coalition to advocate for “Justice for Erik and Lyle” and urged people to sign a petition asking the District Attorney to move forward with a resentencing for the pair. L.A. County District Attorney George Gascón announced earlier this month that he was “keeping an open mind” about a possible resentencing for the brothers. Erik and Lyle were convicted for the murders in 1996, and are both serving a life sentence without parole. 

“Like so many others, I struggled to process the events of that fateful August day and the loss that I felt over time. It became clear that there were two other victims there on that day, my cousins, Lyle and Erik,” said Anamaria Baralt, a cousin of the brothers. “If Lyle and Erik's case were heard today with the understanding we now have about abuse and PTSD, there is no doubt in my mind that their sentencing would have been very different.”

Mark Geragos, a lawyer representing the brothers, cited new evidence in the case, including a letter Erik wrote to his cousin which mentions the abuse months before the slayings, and a declaration by Roy Rossello, member of boyband Menudo, alleging that Jose Menendez had also abused him. 

The case recently re-entered the spotlight after the release of the Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story in September, though there have been previous documentaries detailing the case.

Read more: How Ryan Murphy’s Menendez Brothers Show Has Reignited a Decades-Long Controversy

Some celebrities, including Rosie O’Donnell and Kim Kardashian, who penned a personal essay for NBC News asking for the two to be freed, have advocated on the brothers behalf. 

Here’s what to know. 

What happened

In Aug. 1989, police began investigating the murder of Jose and Kitty Menendez, the parents of Erik and Lyle Menendez. Officers first came to their Beverly Hills home on Aug. 8, 1989 after Lyle called 911 claiming that “someone killed my parents.” Lyle, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, initially told police they came home and found their parents had been shot and killed. But the following March, investigators received a tip stating that the Menendez brothers had admitted to killing their parents on tape to a psychologist.

Read more: The True Story Behind Ryan Murphy’s Menendez Brothers Series

On March 8, 1990, Lyle was arrested. Erik surrendered two days later to authorities when he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport. Their first trial didn’t come until three years later. Eventually, the brothers confessed that they shot their parents as an act of self-defense. During the first trial, family members and friends testified that the Menendez brothers had suffered abuse, including sexual abuse in their home. The brothers claimed they shot their parents because they thought they were going to kill them so they would not reveal that their father had molested them. 

Prosecutors, however, argued that the brothers had fatally shot their parents because they wanted their parents’ estate. Shortly after their parents’ murders, the brothers notably spent their wealth on Rolex watches and business investments. The jury of the first trial was deadlocked, and ultimately a mistrial was declared. 

A second trial in 1995 went in a different direction. The brothers were tried together and parts of the evidence of abuse were declared inadmissible in court. In March 1996, Lyle and Erik were found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. They have served 34 years so far.

Why the D.A. could revisit the case

In 2023 Geragos said that he filed a petition of habeas corpus with the Los Angeles Superior Court, seeking to overturn their conviction. “If the habeas would be granted, you would get a new trial,” he said during Wednesday’s press conference. “If they are resentenced, the judge under California law has the ability to recall and sentence them to a wide range of options.”

Attorneys for the Menendez brothers say that Erik and Lyle would have received different sentences if the trials had happened today, as today’s culture is more supportive of victims of abuse.

Read more: The Menendez Brothers Are Back in the Spotlight. Here’s What to Read and Watch to Understand Their Case

Attorneys representing the pair have pointed to new evidence to show in the case that proves allegations that Erik’s father sexually abused him. Part of that evidence includes a letter written by Erik to his cousin, Andy Cano. In the letter, which was written in December 1988, Erik said: "I've been trying to avoid dad. It's still happening Andy but it's worse for me now… Every night I stay up thinking he might come in.”

Rossello’s testimony that he was also abused by Jose Menendez is also going to be presented. 

“Given the totality of the circumstances, I don’t think they deserve to be in prison until they die,” L.A. District Attorney George Gascón told co-anchor Juju Chang in an IMPACT x Nightline episode set to be released on Hulu Thursday.

A hearing for the habeas petition is set for Nov. 29 in Los Angeles.

“I had no idea of the extent of the abuse they suffered at the hands of my brother-in-law. None of us did, but looking back, I can see the fear… their father had instilled in them,” Kitty Menendez’s sister, Joan VanderMolen, said at the press conference. “They were just children, children who could have been protected, and were instead brutalized in the most horrific ways.”