CNN
—
As the Los Angeles County District Attorney weighs new evidence that could see Lyle and Eric Menendez freed after more than 30 years in prison, nearly two dozen of their relatives are expected to speak on their behalf at a news conference Wednesday.
In 1996, the Menendez brothers were sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty, in their Beverly Hills home.
Although they never denied killing their parents, both said during their trial that they acted in self-defense and suffered years of physical and sexual abuse from their father.
The brothers’ attorneys also argued that the judge overseeing the 1996 case did not allow defense evidence of abuse to be presented to the jury.
In 2023, attorneys representing the Menendez brothers filed a motion arguing that Jose Menendez should be released from prison based on new allegations that he sexually abused him, and that Eric Menendez wrote a letter alleging the abuse to a relative. He endured.
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon will soon re-sentence the brothers based on evidence filed in a 2023 petition. He announced earlier this month that there was no doubt the brothers committed the murders, but his office was reviewing the evidence.
In an interview with ABC that aired Wednesday, Eric and Lyle’s cousin, Karen Vander Molenkopli, said she noticed a change in the boys’ behavior over the years.
“When they were young, you could see that there were these two lively young children, little boys who became sadder and sadder over the years,” Molenkopli said.
After more than 30 years in prison, MolenCopley, one of those at the news conference, said he now feels Lyle and Erik should be freed and allowed to come home and be with their families.
“That would be the best birthday present for my mom…to have her nephews at home with her on her birthday on Thanksgiving.”
But an attorney for Kitty Menendez’s brother, Milton Anderson, accused Gascon on Wednesday of betraying the victims and their loved ones.
“The cold-blooded actions of the Menendez brothers shattered their family and left a trail of grief that lasted decades. Jose was shot six times, and Kitty was shot ten times, including a shot in the face after Eric reloaded,” retired attorney Kathy Cady said in a statement.
According to Cady, Anderson was never informed that Gascon had changed the case, nor that the district attorney announced a second look at a news conference.
“Mr. Anderson, like all victims’ families, has a constitutional right to be informed, to have her voice heard, and to have her views considered in any decision about the case,” Caddy said.
CNN has reached out to Gascón for comment.
On Sunday, Gascón posted on social media an image of a handwritten, undated letter submitted by Menendez’s lawyers as part of their plea.
In the letter, Eric Menendez wrote, “I’m trying to avoid dad. It’s still happening Andy but now I feel worse.
He continued, “I don’t know when it’s going to happen, and it’s driving me crazy. Every night I think about him coming in. I just have to get it out of my mind.
“I know what you said earlier, but I’m scared. You don’t know daddy like I do. Crazy!”
An image of the letter, which is in the public record, has since been removed from Gascón’s social media accounts — but the district attorney highlighted its significance in an interview with ABC that aired Wednesday.
Gascon said the letter was “about the abuse that was the cornerstone of their defense.” He told ABC his office will make a decision this month on sentencing the Menendez brothers.
The case resurfaced following last month’s release of the Netflix series “Monsters: The Lyle and Eric Menendez Story.” Netflix released a documentary on the Menendez case this month in which the two discuss what led to the murders.
Former Los Angeles County District Attorney Lonnie Coombs publicly told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Wednesday that the documentary generated a lot of phone calls to his office about new evidence in the case.
“That new evidence drive sat on his desk for over a year, but until all the attention and attention from this documentary he got out and said, ‘I’m going to look at this,'” she said.
Society has changed the way it views child sexual abuse, he said.
“We understand it very well. We understand the dynamics of it, sometimes it takes years for the victims to talk about the trauma,” he added.
Coombs described the timing of the district attorney’s decision to retry the case as a “perfect storm,” given that Gascón has already angered 300 people in the county in the past year.
CNN’s Ray Sanchez contributed to this story.
