Erik and Lyle Menendez's family speaks out as prosecutor reconsiders murder conviction

Nearly two dozen family members of Lyle and Erik Menendez will address their relatives' murder convictions at a news conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday as prosecutors review the decades-old case.

The incident comes as Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón's office examines two new pieces of evidence in the prosecution of the Menendez brothers for the 1989 murders of their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez in Beverly Hills. The case has drawn renewed attention on social media and with the release of a Netflix drama series and documentary about the brothers.

Last year, the Menendez brothers' lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition challenging their sentences. Gascón said he is considering possible recommendations for a resentencing or new trial.

A timeline of the Menendez brothers' case

On the evening of August 20, 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in the family's Beverly Hills mansion by shooting them with shotguns.

The case attracted national attention through a high-profile first trial.

Prosecutors argued the killings were motivated by greed. During the trial, the Menendez brothers presented graphic allegations of sexual abuse by their father, with some of the allegations supported by the testimony of relatives, friends and acquaintances. Attorneys for Erik and Lyle Menendez told jurors – one for each of the brothers – that the brothers killed their parents in self-defense.

The jury's deliberations dragged on for weeks before the judge declared a mistral.

In 1995, during a second trial, prosecutors argued that the brothers had lied about the alleged abuse, calling their defense an “abuse excuse.” Much of the defense's evidence related to the allegations was not admitted at this trial, and Lyle Menendez did not take the stand.

The brothers were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder.

Renewed attention, new evidence

In the more than three decades since the murders, the case has drawn renewed attention, as clips of the trial have circulated on social media in recent years and the brothers' abuse allegations have been viewed through a different generational lens. The case made headlines again last month with the debut of Ryan Murphy's Netflix drama series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” followed by a new Netflix documentary, “The Menendez Brothers,” on October 7.

On October 3, Gascón announced that the DA's office was taking a new look at the convictions, particularly a letter Erik Menendez allegedly wrote to a cousin mentioning his father, as well as a rape allegation made by the former Menudo -member Roy Rosselló Jose Menendez, executive at RCA Records.

Last May, Cliff Gardner, one of the Menendez brothers' appeals attorneys, filed a writ of habeas corpus challenging the convictions. The petition cited a letter that Erik Menendez allegedly sent to his cousin Andy Cano in December 1988, apparently referring to alleged abuse by his father as well as Rosselló's claim in an affidavit.

Gardner said to CBS News' “48 Hours.” about the content of the letter and its relation to the case. It says: “I tried to avoid Dad. It still happens, Andy, but now it’s worse for me… I never know when it’s going to happen.”

“Every night I stay awake thinking he might come in,” the letter later continued. “…I'm afraid…You just don't know Dad as well as I do. He's crazy! He warned me hundreds of times not to tell anyone, especially Lyle.”

Lyle Menendez told 48 Hours that his father's sister discovered the letter at the warehouse. Gardner said there are certain details, including mention of a Christmas party and the hiring of a new tennis coach, that corroborate it and the timing of its writing.

The letter, written about eight months before the murders, was never presented at trial.

The other new potential evidence comes from Rosselló, a former member of Menudo, the Latin boy band that rose to fame in the late 1970s and 1980s. The group was signed to RCA Records when Jose Menendez was their record manager.

In an affidavit filed last year, Rosselló said he was between 14 and 15 when he said the band's then-manager, Edgardo Diaz, instructed him to visit Menendez's home in the early 1980s. After drinking “a glass of wine,” Rosselló said, he felt like he had “no control” over his body. He made his comments in the 2023 Peacock documentary “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.”

“I was in terrible pain for a week. I could hardly bear the pain. I couldn’t even move,” he told the interviewer in Spanish.

Rosselló has alleged that Jose Menendez sexually assaulted him on two other occasions – immediately before and after a performance at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

A new claim and an old letter

Because the letter was never presented in court, Gardner said it could now be used to support testimony given by Andy Cano, its recipient, at both trials. Cano previously told jurors that when he was 13, his cousin Erik Menendez told him that he had been abused by his father.

“Well, the state’s position was that Andy was a liar,” Gardner said. “Andy came up with it. This shows that Andy didn't make it up. … It is contemporary evidence from Erik to his cousin Andy about what happened.”

Mark Geragos, who also represents the brothers, said the letter, in addition to Rosselló's statement, “provides sufficient basis to overturn the outcome of the second trial.” He spoke to reporters after Gascón's Oct. 3 announcement.

“I think we're at a point now where any reasonable person looking at this case believes she should stay out,” Geragos said.

The habeas petition filed last year seeks to overturn the murder convictions because they do not apply to the crimes, according to Gardner. Convictions for involuntary manslaughter, for example, would result in significantly fewer prison sentences.

“The boys were abused as children. They have been mistreated their entire lives. …And this is a manslaughter case, not a murder case. It’s that simple,” Gardner said in an interview with “48 Hours.”

On Nov. 26, the prosecutor's office is expected to give an informal response to the petition that could decide her fate.

However, Gascón said he could also recommend resentencing the brothers as another option, something he has done in more than 300 other cases since being sworn in as prosecutor in December 2020.

Joan VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez's sister, has long defended her nephews and supported their allegations of abuse. She told Vanity Fair this week that Gascón invited her and other family members to Wednesday's press conference in Los Angeles.

A statement about the event did not mention Gascón or whether he would attend.

“They were used and mistreated”

Nearly two dozen family members are expected to attend the press conference, which will be held in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Joan VanderMolen is scheduled to speak at the event. In her interview with Vanity Fair, she reiterated her support for them.

“They don’t deserve any of this,” she told the magazine. “They have been used and abused and it seems to never end.”

VanderMolen said that during the second trial, when the judge refused to admit much of the defense's evidence, “there was no defense at all that would have been admitted.”

“It was like the abuse never happened,” she said. “It wasn’t fair at all. I don’t know how the jury reached a verdict after such a crazy trial.”

Her daughter, Diane VanderMolen, said that when Lyle Menendez was 8 years old, he told her that his father touched him “down there.” She said she told Kitty Menendez but the boys' mother didn't believe her. Diane VanderMolen was unable to testify about this conversation in the second trial because Lyle Menendez did not take the stand in that trial.

Meanwhile, Milton Andersen, Kitty Menendez's brother, criticized Gascón's recent handling of the case in a statement released Wednesday by his attorney Kathy Cady. According to the statement, Andersen believes his nephews should remain in prison.

“The Menendez brothers’ cold-blooded actions devastated their family and left a trail of grief that will last for decades,” the statement said. “Even Gascón admits that there is no doubt who committed this heinous act.”

Of the 13 relatives who the family said attended Wednesday's news conference, 10 are from Kitty Menendez's family and three are from Jose Menendez's family. Gardner and Geragos are also expected to speak at the event.