Could the Menendez Brothers Get Released? New Evidence Might Free Them

With Thursday's arrival of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story on Netflix , the public's focus is once again on the Menendez brothers' infamous murder case and if there's a chance 56-year-old Lyle and 53-year-old Erik will be released.

The convicted killers' latest attempt at freedom began in May 2023, when their attorneys asked the Los Angeles superior court to review and possibly vacate the brothers' murder convictions in light of new evidence that they say validates claims that their father sexually abused them for years. The slow-churning justice system has yet to make a final call.

Lyle and Erik were convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 for killing their parents, José and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez . The brothers shot them to death at their Beverly Hills mansion on August 20, 1989, allegedly so they could inherit their parents' $14 million estate.

However, the brothers claimed the killings were an "imperfect self-defense" after a lifetime of physical and sexual abuse from their parents. After their first trials resulted in hung juries, allegations of abuse were restricted in the second trial, and prosecutors insisted the abuse claims were lies. The brothers were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Now, attorneys for the brothers point to two new pieces of evidence that they say confirm the abuse allegations. One is a recently discovered letter Erik wrote, just eight months before the murders. Additionally, the lawyers refer to claims in the 2023 docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed in which a former member of the boy band Menudo alleges José Menendez, who was an executive at RCA Records, also targeted him .

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"In short, the new evidence not only shows that José Menendez was very much a violent and brutal man who would sexually abuse children, but it strongly suggests that—in fact—he was still abusing Erik Menendez as late as December 1988. Just as the defense had argued all along," reads a court petition filed by the Menendez brothers' attorneys on May 3, 2023.

Erik's Letter: "I've Been Trying to Avoid Dad"

In June 2023, a judge asked the Los Angeles County district attorney's office to file an informal response to the defense attorneys' petition, according to The Los Angeles Times . The office currently has until September 26 to complete its response, according to Today and People , after which the judge is expected to rule on the petition.

The Menendez brothers' attorneys ask that the judge vacate the convictions and sentences, or allow a new evidentiary hearing regarding the abuse claims.

The 1988 letter written by Erik Menendez was discovered by José Menendez's sister, Marta Cano. It had been sent to her son, Andy Cano, who had been close with his cousins and testified at their trials. In the letter, Erik describes continued sexual abuse at the hands of his father and the emotional toll caused by it.

"I've been trying to avoid dad. It's still happening Andy, but it's worse for me now," the letter reads . "I can't explain it. He [sic] so overweight that I can't stand to see him. I never know. When it's going to happen and it's driving me crazy. Every night, I stay up thinking he might come in. I need to put it out of my mind."

Andy died from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills in January 2003, when he was 29. His mother, Marta, said Andy was "traumatized" by the killings and subsequent trials and couldn't cope with the incarceration of his cousins. "I have no doubt in my mind that Andy is dead because of them," she said.

Roy Rosselló: "I Know What He Did to Me"

Roy Rosselló, 54, a former member of the boy band Menudo, said in the Peacock docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed that José Menendez molested him in the mid-1980s , when he was 14. He claimed the band's manager organized a visit to Menendez's house, during which Menendez drugged and raped him.

"I know what he did to me in his house," Rosselló said in a clip from the docuseries. In another scene, he pointed to Menendez in a photograph and says, "That's the man, here, that raped me. This guy. That's the pedophile."

Prosecutors for Lyle and Erik's second trial said "the abuse never happened" and that José was not the "kind of man that would be abusing his sons," according to the petition filed by the brothers' attorneys. They claim Erik's letter and Rosselló's claims say otherwise.

"To resolve this case, jurors had to decide a single, critical question: Was José Menendez molesting his sons?" the attorney wrote. "Jurors making this determination did not know of Erik's letter to his cousin Andy, and they did not know that José Menendez had previously raped a 14 year-old boy."

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