A choose will resolve Monday whether or not new proof warrants a re-examination of the convictions of Erik and Lyle Menendez within the murders of their dad and mom of their Beverly Hills house greater than 30 years in the past.
The brothers had been discovered responsible of murdering Jose and Kitty Menendez in 1989 and sentenced to life in jail with out parole. Whereas their protection attorneys argued at trial that that they had been sexually abused by their father, prosecutors denied that and accused them of killing their dad and mom for cash. Within the years that adopted, they repeatedly appealed their convictions with out success.
Now, at 53 and 56, Erik and Lyle Menendez are making a brand new bid for freedom. Their legal professionals filed a habeas corpus petition – a request for a courtroom to look at whether or not somebody is being lawfully detained – in Could 2023, asking a choose to contemplate new proof of their father’s sexual abuse. “Newly found proof immediately helps the protection offered at trial,” the petition stated.
The current releases of the Netflix drama Monsters: Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and the documentary The Menendez Brothers in 2024 introduced renewed public consideration to their plight. Members of the general public can be given the chance to win a seat within the courtroom to catch a glimpse of the brothers, who can be showing just about.
Prosecutors beneficial resentencing for the brothers final month, saying they’ve labored on redemption and rehabilitation and demonstrated good conduct inside jail.
George Gascón, the Los Angeles district lawyer, held a information convention lower than two weeks earlier than election day, asking for brand new sentences of fifty years to life. This might make them instantly eligible for parole as a result of they had been lower than 26 years outdated after they killed their dad and mom.
Superior courtroom Decide Michael Jesic is scheduled to contemplate the resentencing request on 11 December, however on Monday he’ll first handle the abuse proof raised within the habeas petition. Instant freedom is one potential end result; the choose additionally may weigh in on the deserves of the proof. And if the brothers don’t get aid in courtroom, they’ll hope California’s governor will grant them clemency.
The brand new proof features a letter Erik Menendez wrote in 1988 to his uncle Andy Cano, describing the sexual abuse he had endured from his father. The brothers requested their legal professionals about it after it was talked about in a 2015 Barbara Walters tv particular. The legal professionals hadn’t recognized of the letter and realized it had not been launched at their trials, making it successfully new proof that they are saying corroborates allegations that Erik was sexually abused by his father.
Extra new proof emerged when Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin pop group Menudo, not too long ago got here ahead saying he had been drugged and raped by Jose Menendez, the boys’ father, when he was a teen within the Eighties. Menudo was signed below RCA Information, the place Jose Menendez was chief working officer.
Rossello spoke about his abuse within the Peacock docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, and supplied a signed declaration to the brothers’ legal professionals.
Had these two items of proof been out there in the course of the brothers’ trial, prosecutors wouldn’t have been capable of argue that there was no corroboration of sexual abuse, or that their father Jose Menendez was not the “type of man that will” abuse kids, the petition argues.
Whereas clemency is perhaps one other pathway to freedom for the brothers, final week Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, stated that he received’t resolve till the incoming Los Angeles district lawyer, Nathan Hochman, evaluations the case.
Hochman, a Republican-turned-independent who unseated the progressive Gascón on 2 December, has stated he desires to fastidiously take a look at the proof earlier than making any selections.
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