Contains themes of sexual abuse
The Menendez story has dominated the news since Netflix’s twin releases,Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menedez StoryandThe Menendez Brothers.The latter documentary firmly landed on the view that the sibling’s murder of their parents in 1989 was brought about as a result of years of sexual, physical, and mental abuse by Jose Menendez, their father.The Menendez BrothersNetflix documentaryfurther suggested that after an initial mistrial and hung jury,Judge Stanley Weisberg, stung by the failure to reach a verdict, suppressed much of the abuseevidence at the retrial, directly leading to the boys' murder conviction.
Recently surfaced new evidence appears to support the Menendez brothers, and may well force current L.A. District Attorney George Gascon’s hand in reviewing their life sentences, a process he’d already set in motion after other fresh evidence emerged as a result of Netflix’s dramatic intervention. The first involved new revelations byRoy Rosello, a former member of the boy band Menudo, and the second was a recently discovered letterfrom 18-year-old Erik to his cousin Andy Cano in December 1988 in which he related his father’s abuse. The new evidence may overturn theMenendez brothers' conviction, upheld by their second trial.
Erik Menendez’s Letter To His Cousin Andy & How It Could Change The Case Explained
18-Year-Old Erik Menendez Revealed His Father’s Abuse To His Cousin
Erik’s handwritten note to his cousin, as reported by theNew York Post, speaks of his fear of his father: “I’ve been trying to avoid dad. It’s still happening daily, but it’s worse for me now…every night I stay up thinking he might come in.” No explanation has been offered for the 30-year absence of the note,which would almost certainly have materially affected the 1993 hung verdict, and might have impacted Judge Weisberg’s stubborn resistance to the abuse defense in the retrial a year later.
The letter was filed last year in L.A. Superior Court but has only been released to the public by the DA’s office this week. It prompted a press conference in which someMenendez family members and friends issued a public plea for Erik and Lyle’s immediate release, arguing that had Erik’s letter been available to either of their trials their charge would have been reduced to manslaughter, for which they’d have served no more than 15 years.
Netflix’s Menendez Brothers Documentary Leaves Out The Menudo Abuse Accusation
Boy Band Member Roy Rosello Has Accused Jose Menendez Of Sexual Assault
The letter follows hard upon the heels of new testimony from Roy Rosello, a former member of the boy band Menudo,who claims that Jose Menendez, then head of RCA Records, drugged and raped him in 1984 when he was a teenager,again lending substantial credence to the boys' abuse defense. DespiteThe Menendez Brothersdocumentary broadly supporting Erik and Lyle’s version of events, it strangely omits Rosello’s accusations entirely. The claims were enough to prompt a TikTok “Free the Menendi” campaign which, in turn, persuaded L.A. DA George Garcon to reconsider the case.
Meanwhile, the still-incarcerated brothers have continued to plead their case, asking for re-sentencing or a new trial. Prosecutors continue toargue that the brothers meticulously planned their parents' murder and that it was motivated by greed for their inheritance, which Jose had threatened to deny them. It should be noted that not all Menendez family members have joined the clamor for their early release. Milton Anderson, the boys' uncle, released a statement through his lawyers, per theBBC, that the murders were a “heinous” act in which “Jose was shot six times, and Kitty was shot ten times, including a shot to her face after Erik reloaded.”
What The New Evidence Means For The Menendez Brothers' Upcoming Trial Hearing
District Attorney Gascon Appears To Support A New Hearing
Despite these pockets of resistance, it seems inevitable that the Menendez brothers will be granted at least a re-examination of their case. Their second trial was almost certainly hampered, not only by Judge Weisberg’s jaundiced directions after what he saw as the embarrassment of the abandoned first trial, but also by theretrial’s proximity to the OJ Simpson acquittal, which happened a week before the Menendez trial started. InThe Menendez Brothers,a theory is advanced that the boys' murder conviction was payback by a justice system wounded by Simpson’s release.
There has been a sea-change in public sympathy in the last 30 years for victims of abuse, so Gascon’s support for a new hearing would be better received.
L.A. District Attorney Gascon’s willingness to make public Erik’s letter to his cousin, and to endorse the Menendez family’s calls for Erik and Lyle’s sentence to be adjusted, suggests he’s on board. Furthermore,there has been a sea-change in public sympathy in the last 30 years for victims of abuse, so Gascon’s support for a new hearing would be better received. A new manslaughter charge, rather than the first-degree murder conviction that saw the siblings sentenced to 30 years without parole, would, of course, see them walk out of prison immediately, a potentially fitting conclusion afterThe Menendez Brothers.
The Menendez Brothers
Cast
Lyle and Erik Menendez, imprisoned for killing their parents, recount the crime and the dramatic trials in this documentary.
