The Menendez brothers’ family urges their release as prosecutors review 1989 case

LOS ANGELES — The extended family of Erik and Lyle Menendez will call for the brothers’ release from prison during a news conference Wednesday in downtown Los Angeles as prosecutors review new evidence to determine whether they should serve life sentences for killing their parents.

The news conference, which is being billed as “a powerful show of unity” by more than a dozen family members — including the brothers’ aunt — traveling across the country to Los Angeles, will take place less than two weeks after LA County District Attorney George Gascon. announced that his office would re-examine the brothers’ case.

Erik Menendez, now 53, and his 56-year-old brother, Lyle Menendez, are currently incarcerated in state prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of murdering their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion more than 35 years ago .

Lyle Menendez, who was 21 at the time, and Erik Menendez, then 18, admitted to fatally shooting their father, Jose Menendez, and their mother, Kitty Menendez, in 1989, but said they feared their parents were about to to kill them. prevent the revelation of Erik’s long-term sexual molestation by the father.

The extended family’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, previously said they strongly support the brothers’ release. Comedian Rosie O’Donnell also plans to join the family on Wednesday.

“She wishes nothing more than for them to be released,” Freedman said earlier this month about Joan VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister and the brothers’ aunt.

Earlier this month, Gascón said there is no doubt the brothers committed the 1989 murders, but that his office will review new evidence and decide whether a recidivism is justified in the infamous case that drew national attention.

The brothers’ lawyers said the family believed from the start that they should have been charged with manslaughter instead of murder. Manslaughter was not an option for the jury during the second trial that ultimately led to the brothers’ murder conviction, defense attorney Mark Geragos said earlier.

The case has gained new attention 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 Erik Menendez that his lawyers say corroborates allegations that he was sexually abused by his father. A hearing was scheduled for November 29.

Prosecutors argued at the time that there was no evidence of any abuse. They said the sons were after their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate.

But the brothers have said they killed their parents in self-defense after suffering a lifetime of physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of them. Their lawyers argue that because of society’s changing views on sexual abuse, the brothers may not have been convicted of first-degree murder today and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Jurors rejected a death sentence in 1996 in favor of life without parole.