Erik and Lyle MenendezFamily members will speak Friday with the Los Angeles County district attorney, continuing their mission to obtain a reduced sentence for the two brothers who are currently serving life sentences for the murders of their parents in 1989.
THE Justice Coalition for Erik and Lylea family-led group, said Friday’s meeting with prosecutor Nathan Hochman will include more than 20 family members of Jose and Kitty Menendez.
Organizers say they are united in their support for a new sentence this “reflects the abuse, trauma and rehabilitation demonstrated by Erik and Lyle over the past 35 years,” according to NBC News.
FILE – Erik Menendez (left) and his brother Lyle (right) listen during a pretrial hearing Dec. 29, 1992, in Los Angeles after both men pleaded innocent in the August shooting death 1989 from their wealthy parents, Jose and Mary Louise Menendez of Beverly Hills, California.
Vince Bucci/AFP via Getty Images
“As we prepare to meet with DA Hochman, our family looks forward to an open and fair discussion,” the coalition continued in its statement released Thursday evening. “Despite the abuse they suffered as children and the injustice 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 community. rehabilitation.
“In our meeting with DA Hochman, we look forward to sharing our perspective on Erik and Lyle’s immense personal growth over the past 35 years and how we plan to support them in their next chapters. We hope that this meeting will allow us to take another step towards a next Christmas together as a family.
At the end of November, Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic delayed the decision whether or not to sanction the brothersdashing their family’s hopes that the brothers would be released and return 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 the new Los Angeles County district attorney time to rule on the case.
The brothers were due to appear in court for the first time in decades, but technical problems prevented them from virtually leaving prison.
During the hour-long 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’s sister Joan Andersen VanderMolen, bottom left, and her niece Karen VanderMolen, right, sit together at a news conference to announce developments in the case of brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez on Wednesday October 16, 2024, in Los Angeles.
Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press
While their defense lawyers argued at trial that they had been sexually abused by their father, prosecutors denied this and accused them of killing their parents for money. In the years that followed, they appealed their convictions several times, without success.
Today, at ages 53 and 56, Erik and Lyle Menendez are making another attempt at freedom. Their lawyers filed a petition for habeas corpus – a request for a court to consider whether a person is 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 Center in San Diego.
THE new evidence includes a letter written by Erik that his lawyers say corroborates allegations that he was sexually abused by his father.
Initially, the brothers, who were 18 and 21 at the time of the murders, told police they had stopped at their parents’ house the night of the murders to pick up Erik’s ID card while they were went to the cinema and discovered their murdered parents.
Erik eventually confided to his therapist that he and his brother were responsible for the murders and after the therapist shared the information with his mistress, the confession was eventually passed to the police.
Lyle and Erik were eventually arrested for the murders and their trial marked the beginning of an era of high-profile televised criminal trials that captured the public imagination throughout the 1990s.
Despite defense arguments that Jose had sexually abused his two sons for years and that they had killed their parents out of fear, they were convicted of first-degree murder.
Prosecutors at the time said there was no evidence of assault. They said the sons were after their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate, but the brothers said they killed their parents in self-defense after enduring a lifetime of physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
— With files from the Associated Press
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