Theirs extended family asks for them to be released. Erik Menendez, now 53, and his brother Lyle, 56, are serving their sentences in prison after being convicted of the murder of their parents, which occurred more than 35 years agoin their Beverly Hills villa: the Netflix series is based on their story Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
But, now that Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón has announced that his office was reviewing the caseabout ten family members of the Menendez family, including their aunt, are working to support the release of the brothers.
Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, admitted to the 1989 shooting death of his father Jose, a powerful entrepreneur in the entertainment industry, and his mother, Kitty, but they always continued to reiterate that they had done so for fear that their parents were about to kill themto prevent them from revealing the sexual harassment they suffered from their father.
The attorney for the extended Menendez family, Bryan Freedman, said Joan VandenMolen, Kitty’s sister, “wants nothing more than for them to be released.” The brothers’ lawyers said that the family believed from the beginning that Erik and Lyle should have been charged with manslaughter rather than voluntary manslaughter.
Earlier this month, prosecutor George Gascón said there was no doubt that the brothers were responsible for the 1989 killings, but that his office would look into new evidence that could have called the conviction into question. These tests include a letter written by Erik Menendez which, according to his lawyers, would confirm the sexual abuse perpetrated by his father. At the time, prosecutors argued that there was no evidence of molestation: according to them, the boys only wanted to take possession of their parents’ multimillion-dollar fortune.
The brothers, however, they have always reiterated that they killed their parents in self-defenseafter enduring years of physical, emotional and sexual abuse from them. The new hearing is scheduled for November 29.
Source: Vanity Fair
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