Relatives of Eric Menendez and Lyle Menendez speak of the brothers at a news conference scheduled for Wednesday in downtown Los Angeles as prosecutors consider new evidence on whether they should serve life sentences for killing their parents. plans to advocate for his release.
The press conference, billed as a “powerful show of solidarity” as more than a dozen family members, including the brothers’ aunt, traveled across the country to visit Los Angeles, came two weeks after the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s remarks. It will be done before too long. Georges Gascón announced that his office is re-investigating the brothers’ case.
Eric Menendez, now 53, and his brother Lyle Menendez, 56, were convicted of murdering their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion more than 35 years ago and are currently in state prison without the possibility of parole. He is in prison.
Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Eric Menendez, then 18, admitted to shooting and killing their entertainment executive father Jose Menendez and mother Kitty Menendez in 1989. said they feared their parents were trying to kill them to stop the incident. The revelation of long-term sexual abuse of Eric by his father.
Brian Friedman, an attorney for the extended family, previously said he strongly supported the brothers’ release. Comedian Rosie O’Donnell will also join the family on Wednesday.
“All she wants is for them to be released,” Friedman said earlier this month of Joan Vandermolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister and the brothers’ aunt.
Gascón said earlier this month that while there is no doubt that the brothers committed the 1989 murder, his office is reviewing new evidence to determine whether the brothers committed the 1989 murders, but his office is reviewing new evidence to determine whether or not the brothers committed the 1989 murders. He said he would decide whether a new sentence was warranted.
The brothers’ lawyers said the family believed from the beginning that they should have been charged with manslaughter rather than murder. Attorney Mark Geragos previously said manslaughter was not an option for jurors in the second trial that ultimately led to the brothers’ murder convictions.
The case has received new attention in recent weeks after Netflix began streaming the full-scale crime drama Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez.
The new evidence includes a letter written by Eric Menendez that his lawyer says supports claims that he was sexually abused by his father. A hearing was scheduled for November 29th.
Prosecutors at the time argued there was no evidence of sexual abuse. They said the sons were after their parents’ multimillion-dollar fortune.
But the brothers claim they killed their parents in self-defense after suffering lifelong physical, mental and sexual abuse at the hands of their parents. Their lawyers say that because of society’s changing views on sexual abuse, the brothers could now be found guilty of first-degree murder and not sentenced to life in prison without parole. claims.
Jurors in 1996 rejected the death penalty in favor of life in prison without parole.
