LOS ANGELES — Relatives of Eric and Lyle Menendez plan to gather outside a Los Angeles courthouse Wednesday to debate whether the brothers convicted of killing their parents nearly 30 years ago should be released in outrage. The district attorney is considering whether to do so.
Nearly two dozen family members will hold a press conference Wednesday at 1 p.m. PT outside the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles. They will be joined by Mark Geragos, the brothers’ attorney, and Rosie O’Donnell, one of the brothers’ celebrity defenders.
The timing of the press conference is noteworthy. Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said earlier this month that his office is considering the convictions of the brothers, who were convicted in the 1989 murder of their parents, Jose Luise “Kitty” Menendez. .
Gascón, a progressive who is running for re-election, will not attend the rally, his office said in a statement.
“A decision regarding the Menendez case has not yet been made. Once Prosecutor Gascón makes a decision, the victim’s family and the public will be notified,” the statement said.
Geragos told NBC Los Angeles on Tuesday that the Menendez brothers are “cautiously optimistic” about the prosecutorial review.
Eric and Lyle Menendez were convicted 28 years ago and sentenced to life in prison without parole. The incident received widespread attention at the time, and the Beverly Hills brothers became celebrities and gained national notoriety.
The legal saga has received renewed public attention since the release of the Ryan Murphy-co-produced Netflix miniseries “Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez,” as well as the Netflix feature-length documentary “The Menendez Brothers.”
The series and documentary film chronicle the years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse the brothers suffered at the hands of their record company executive father.
The brothers’ lawyers argued that they acted in self-defense out of fear and trauma. Prosecutors argued that they murdered their parents to inherit their fortune and continued to spend money after the murder.
The brothers were tried together for the first time in 1993, and the televised trial ended in a hung jury. When they were retried in 1995, most of their sexual abuse claims were deemed inadmissible in court.
Family members scheduled to speak at Wednesday’s press conference include Jose Menendez’s niece, Anamaria Balart; Joan Anderson Vandermolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister. Karen Vandermolen, niece of Kitty Menendez. and Brian A. Anderson Jr., nephew of Kitty Menendez.
O’Donnell isn’t the only celebrity to rally behind the brothers. Kim Kardashian, who has used her platform to advocate for criminal justice issues, called for them to be made public in a personal essay she shared exclusively with NBC News this month.
“I’ve spent time with Lyle and Eric,” the reality TV star wrote in part, “and they’re not monsters.” She claimed the brothers were treated unfairly by both prosecutors and the press in the 1990s.
At an Oct. 3 press conference, Gascon said more than 300 people had been offended during his term, but only four had committed crimes again.
Gascón was elected in 2020 on a reformist platform. Recent polls show him trailing his challenger, former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman.
Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson, who specializes in criminal cases, said the renewed public attention to the Menendez case is only going so far.
“While it is the court of public opinion that can give a majority in favor of a defendant, it is the court of justice that makes the decision,” Levenson said.
Andrew Blankstein reported from Los Angeles and Daniel Arkin from New York.
Correction (October 16, 2024, 9:18 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article incorrectly listed the date of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon’s press conference. It was October 3rd, not October 7th.
