A new court hearing for Erik and Lyle Menendez has been set for November 29, more than 28 years after they were convicted of murdering their parents and two weeks after their story was dramatized in the popular Netflix series “Monsters.”
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón made the announcement at a press conference on Thursday and said there has been new evidence discovered that the brothers were allegedly molested by their father, Jose Menendez.
“We have been given evidence. We have been given a photocopy of a letter that allegedly was sent by one of the brothers to another family member talking about him being the victim of molestation,” Gascón said. “We’ve also got evidence that was provided by the defense, by his lawyers, that one of the members of the Menudo band alleged that he was molested by the father.”
The new hearing could eventually lead to a retrial or resentencing of Erik and Lyle, but Gascón said there has been no decision made yet.
“None of this information has been confirmed,” he said. “We are not at this point ready to say that we either believe or do not believe that information, but we’re here to tell you is that we have a moral and an ethical obligation to review what is being presented to us and make a determination based on a resentencing side, whether they deserve to be resentenced — even though they were clearly the murderers — because they have been in prison for years and they have paid back their dues to society. If there was evidence that was not presented to the court at that time, and had that evidence been presented, perhaps a jury would have come to a different conclusion.”
Erik and Lyle were sentenced to life in prison in 1996 for murdering their father and mother, Jose and Kitty Menendez, at their Beverly Hills mansion on August 20, 1989. The brothers were originally tried separately, but the juries were deadlocked and resulted in mistrials. When they were tried together, they were convincted and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. In their defense, the brothers say they committed the murders out of fear for their lives after a lifetime of abuse and alleged sexual abuse by their father.
In 1998 and and 1999, the California Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of California upheld Erik and Lyle’s convictions and declined to review the case. The brothers also petitioned the United States District Court and United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, but were denied. In May 2023, Erik and Lyle requested a new hearing be held after evidence was discovered that their father allegedly molested singer Roy Rosselló of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo.
Ryan Murphy’s true-crime anthology series “Monsters” examined Erik and Lyle’s story in Season 2, which premiered in late September on Netflix. The show became massively popular and received 19.5 million views its first full week of availability.
“Monsters” has stoked controversy over its portrayal of the brothers, particularly by depicting their relationship at at times homoerotic and incestuous. From prison, Erik released a statement, saying “It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent.” Other Menendez family members have supported the brothers and called “Monsters” “grotesque,” “riddled with mistruths” and a “character assassination.”
From Variety US