Eric and Lyle Menendez's extended family will argue for the brothers' release from prison during a news conference downtown Wednesday. Los Angeles prosecutors are reviewing new evidence to determine whether they should serve life in prison for killing their parents.
Billed as a “powerful show of solidarity” by a dozen family members — including the brothers' aunt, who is traveling across the country to Los Angeles — the news conference will be held in less than two weeks by the L.A. district attorney. George Gascon announced that his office would look into the brothers' case again.
Eric Menendez, now 53, and his brother, Lyle Menendez, 56, are currently being held in state prison without the possibility of parole after being accused of killing their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion 35 years ago.
Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Eric Menendez, 18, confessed to shooting their entertainment executive father Jose Menendez and their mother Kitty Menendez in 1989, but said they feared their parents were going to kill them to stop it. Disclosure of father's chronic sexual abuse of Eric.
Brian Friedman, an attorney for the extended family, previously said they strongly support the brothers' release. Comedian Rosie O'Donnell is also scheduled to join the family on Wednesday.
“She wanted nothing more than for them to be released,” Friedman said earlier this month, Joan Vandermolen, Kitty Menendez's sister and the brothers' aunt.
Earlier this month, Gascon said there was no doubt the brothers committed the 1989 murders, but his office would review the new evidence and decide whether a retribution was warranted in the infamous case that drew national attention.
Lawyers for the brothers said the family believed from the beginning they should have been charged with manslaughter instead of murder. Manslaughter was not an option for the jury during the second trial, which ultimately led to the brothers' murder convictions, prosecutor Mark Geragos said earlier.
The case has gained new traction in recent weeks after Netflix began streaming the true-crime drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
The new evidence includes a letter written by Eric Menendez that his lawyers say corroborates allegations that he was sexually abused by his father. A hearing is scheduled for November 29.
At the time, the lawyers argued that there was no evidence of any abuse of honor. They said the sons were after their parents' multi-million dollar fortune.
But after enduring physical, emotional and sexual abuse throughout their lives, the brothers said they killed their parents in self-defense. Their attorneys argue that because of society's changing view of sex abuse, the brothers would not have been convicted of first-degree murder and could have been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
In 1996 jurors rejected a sentence of life without parole.
