Erik and Lyle Menendez‘s family members will sit down with the Los Angeles County district attorney Friday, continuing their mission of attaining a reduced sentence for the two brothers who are currently serving life sentences for the 1989 murders of their parents.
The Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition, a family-led group, shared that Friday’s meeting with District Attorney Nathan Hochman will include more than 20 members of José and Kitty Menendez’s family.
The organizers say they are united in their support for a new sentence that “reflects Erik and Lyle’s abuse, trauma, and demonstrated rehabilitation over the last 35 years,” according to NBC News.
FILE – Erik Menendez (L) and his brother Lyle (R) listen during a pre-trial hearing, on December 29, 1992 in Los Angeles after the two pleaded innocent in the August 1989 shotgun deaths of their wealthy parents, Jose and Mary Louise Menendez of Beverly Hills, Calif.
Vince Bucci / AFP via Getty Images
“As we prepare to meet with DA Hochman, our family is hopeful for an open and fair discussion,” the coalition continued in their statement, released Thursday evening. “Despite the abuse they endured as children and the unfairness of their current sentence, Erik and Lyle Menendez have spent the last three decades taking responsibility for their actions and contributing positively to their community through leadership and rehabilitation.
“During our meeting with DA Hochman, we look forward to sharing our perspective on Erik and Lyle’s immense personal growth over the last 35 years and the ways in which we plan to support them in their next chapters. We hope that this meeting will put us a step closer to spending next Christmas reunited as a family.”
In late November, Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic delayed a decision on whether to resentence the brothers, squashing their family’s hope the brothers would be released and home for the holidays.
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Jesic said at the hearing in Los Angeles that he needed time to review 17 boxes of documents and give a new district attorney in Los Angeles County time to weigh in on the case.
The brothers were scheduled to be seen in court for the first time in decades at the hearing but technical problems prevented them from appearing virtually from prison.
During the hourlong hearing in November, Jesic heard testimony from two of the brothers’ aunts, both of whom pleaded for their release from prison. Jesic made no immediate decision, instead scheduling a two-day hearing for the final days of January 2025 to hear the various arguments in the case.
Kitty Menendez’ sister, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, bottom left, and niece Karen VanderMolen, right, sit together during a press conference to announce developments on the case of brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Los Angeles.
Damian Dovarganes / The Associated Press
While their defence attorneys argued at trial that they had been sexually abused by their father, prosecutors denied that and accused them of killing their parents for money. In the years that followed, they repeatedly appealed their convictions without success.
Now, at 53 and 56, Erik and Lyle Menendez are making a new bid for freedom. Their lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition — a request for a court to examine whether someone is being lawfully detained — in May 2023, asking a judge to consider new evidence of their father’s sexual abuse. The brothers are being held at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.
The new evidence includes a letter written by Erik that his lawyers say corroborates the allegations that he was sexually abused by his father.
At first, the brothers, who were 18 and 21 years old at the time of the killings, maintained to police they’d stopped by their parents’ house the night of the killings to retrieve Erik’s ID while on the way to a movie and discovered their slain parents.
Erik eventually confided to his therapist that he and his brother were responsible for the killings and after the therapist shared the information with his mistress, the confession eventually made its way to police.
Lyle and Erik were eventually arrested for the murders and their trial kicked off an era of high-profile, televised criminal trials that captured the public’s imagination through the ‘90s.
Despite defence arguments that José had sexually molested his two sons for years and that they killed their parents out of fear, they were convicted of first-degree murder.
Prosecutors at the time contended there was no evidence of any molestation. They said the sons were after their parents’ multi-million-dollar estate, but the brothers have said they killed their parents out of self-defence after enduring a lifetime of physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
— With files from The Associated Press
If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse or is involved in an abusive situation, please visit the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime for help. They are also reachable toll-free at 1-877-232-2610.
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