Family members stand behind Lyle and Erik Menendez as they await a decision that could see them released from prison

By: CNN

Posted: Oct 16, 2024 4:00 PM CDT
Updated: Oct 16, 2024 5:30 PM CDT

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation/AP via CNN Newsource

By Chelsea Bailey, Amanda Musa and Ray Sanchez

(CNN) — Relatives of Lyle and Erik Menendez on Wednesday made impassioned pleas for their release from prison after more than 30 years as the Los Angeles County district attorney weighs new evidence in the murder of their parents.

More than two dozen family members announced a coalition urging authorities to review the case and to either throw out their convictions and hold a new trial or resentence them in light of evidence they said demonstrated the brothers were victims of abuse at the hands of their father.

In 1996, the Menendez brothers were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the shooting deaths of their parents, Jose and Kitty, in their Beverly Hills home.

Although they’ve never denied killing their parents, both men maintained during their trial that they acted in self-defense and suffered years of physical and sexual abuse from their father.

Anamaria Baralt, niece of José Menendez, told reporters Wednesday, “If Lyle and Erik’s case were heard today, with the understanding we now have about abuse and PTSD, there is no doubt in my mind that their sentencing would have been very different.”

Baralt read a statement from Terry Baralt, Jose Menendez’s sister: “I implore the district attorney’s office to end our prolonged suffering and release Lyle and Erik back to our family. Thirty-five years is such a long time. My prayer is that I live long enough to see my nephews again and to hug them once more.”

Attorneys for the brothers have also argued that the judge overseeing the 1996 case did not allow much of the defense’s evidence of abuse to be presented to the jury. The lawyers and relatives of the brothers said they were vilified as murderers rather than being seen as victims of a brutal predator.

In 2023, attorneys representing the Menendez brothers filed a petition that argued they should be granted relief from their prison sentences based on new allegations that speak to Jose Menendez’s alleged pattern of sexual abuse, and a letter Erik Menendez wrote to a cousin that alludes to abuse he endured. Attorneys also pointed to a sworn statement by former Menudo boy band member, Roy Rosselló, who alleged Lyle and Erik’s father sexually assaulted him in the 1980s. José Menendez was a record company executive at the time.

On Wednesday, Joan VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister, told reporters: “I had no idea the extent of the abuse they suffered at the hands of my brother-in-law. None of us did. We know that abuse has long effects, and victims of trauma sometimes act in ways that are very difficult to understand… The whole world was not ready to hear that boys could be raped.”

Brian Andersen Jr., nephew of Kitty Menendez, said the brothers “are no longer a threat to society.”

“They tried to protect themselves the only way they knew how. Instead of being seen as victims, they were vilified,” he said.

Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón is weighing resentencing the brothers based on evidence filed in the 2023 petition. He announced earlier this month there is no question the brothers committed the murders, but that his office is reviewing the evidence.

Joan VanderMolen said the actions of the brothers were “the desperate response of two boys trying to survive the unspeakable cruelty of their father.”

“They were just children. Children who could have been protected and were instead brutalized in the most horrific ways,” she said.

In an interview with ABC that aired on Wednesday, Erik and Lyle’s cousin, Karen Vander MolenCopley, said she remembers noticing the boys’ demeanor change over the years.

“You could see when they were younger that there were these two lively young children, young boys who just became sadder and sadder through the years,” MolenCopley said.

After more than 30 years in prison, MolenCopley, who is among those set to be at the news conference, said she now feels Lyle and Erik should be released and allowed to come home and be with their family.

“That would be the best birthday present to give to my mother … would be to have her nephews home with her on her birthday at Thanksgiving.”

But an attorney for Kitty Menendez’s brother, Milton Andersen, accused Gascón on Wednesday of betraying victims and their loved ones.

“The Menendez brothers’ cold-blooded actions shattered their family and left a trail of grief that has persisted for decades. Jose was shot six times, and Kitty was shot ten times, including a shot to her face after Erik reloaded,” the attorney, Kathy Cady, a retired prosecutor, said in a statement.

Andersen was never informed that Gascón had reassigned the case, nor was he told about a news conference in which the district attorney announced a second look at it, according to Cady, who said the prosecutor has not responded to her requests for a meeting.

“Mr. Andersen, like all victims’ families, has a Constitutional right to be informed, to have his voice heard, and to have his opinions considered in any decision about the case,” Cady said.

After Wednesday’s news conference, attorneys for the Menendez brothers did not respond to questions about relatives opposed to their release.

CNN has reached out to Gascón for comment.

On Sunday, Gascón posted an image on social media of the handwritten, undated letter the Menendez attorneys submitted as a part of their petition.

In the letter, Erik Menendez wrote, “I’ve been trying to avoid dad. Its still happening Andy but its worse for me now.”

He continued, “I never know when its going to happen and its driving me crazy. Every night I stay up thinking he might come in. I need to put it out of my mind.

“I know what you said before but I’m afraid. You just don’t know dad like I do. Hes crazy!”

The image of the letter, which is in the public record, has since been deleted from Gascón’s social media accounts – but the district attorney addressed the potential significance of it in an interview with ABC that aired Wednesday.

The letter “is all about the abuse which was the cornerstone of their defense,” Gascón said. He told ABC his office is expected to make a decision on the Menendez brothers’ sentence sometime this month.

The case has reemerged following last month’s release of the Netflix series,“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” Netflix also this month released a documentary on the Menendez case featuring both men discussing what led to the murders.

Former Los Angeles County prosecutor Loni Coombs told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Wednesday that Gascón has said publicly the documentary has generated a lot of phone calls to his office about new evidence in the case.

“That new evidence motion had been sitting on his desk for over a year, but it wasn’t until all the attention and the spotlight came from this documentary that he now steps out and says, ‘I’m going to look at this,’” she said.

Society has changed the way it views sexual abuse against boys, she said.

“We understand it better. We understand the dynamics of it, that sometimes it takes years for the victims to be able to talk about the trauma,” she added.

Coombs described the timing of the district attorney’s decision to review the case as “a perfect storm,” noting Gascón has already resentenced 300 people in the county in the past year.