Convictions in Menendez household murders in jeopardy after new letter, abuse declare bolster brothers’ protection
Erik and Lyle Menendez, two brothers behind bars for greater than three many years for the 1989 killings of their dad and mom, hope that new proof of their alleged abuse could set them free.
The 2 brothers, now 56 and 53, admit that they gunned down Kitty and Jose Menendez of their Beverly Hills dwelling – what’s in query is why they did it.
Whereas prosecutors argue the brothers carried out the killings for entry to their household’s sizable fortune, the brothers declare that they did so out of concern after a lifetime of bodily, sexual and emotional abuse.
Elder brother Lyle Menendez spoke concerning the new proof in a “48 Hours” particular.
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The Menendez brothers, Erik, left, and Lyle on the steps of their Beverly Hills dwelling in November 1989. (Ronald L. Soble/Los Angeles Occasions through Getty Photos)
“After I first heard about it … I cried,” Lyle Menendez stated. “For me, it was very significant to only have issues come out that induced folks to essentially notice, OK … no less than this a part of what it is about is true.”
Cliff Gardner, one of many brothers’ attorneys, instructed “48 Hours” that the brothers ought to have been convicted of manslaughter fairly than first-degree homicide in gentle of their alleged abuse, which might have carried lighter sentences that the brothers would have completed years in the past.
Of their preliminary 1993 trial, which turned a nationwide sensation when it was broadcast by Court docket TV, the 2 brothers claimed that their father threatened to kill them in the event that they spoke out concerning the abuse they have been experiencing. Two family members, together with the brothers’ cousin, Andy Cano, claimed that Erik confided in them concerning the abuse lengthy earlier than Jose and Kitty have been killed on Aug. 20, 1989.
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Lyle, left, and Erik, proper, are pictured in mugshots from 2023. After years aside, they have been moved into the identical housing unit at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego in 2018, in response to the New York Every day Information. (California Division of Corrections)
The brothers have been initially tried individually; prosecutor Pam Bozanich argued that “males couldn’t be raped as a result of they lack the mandatory gear to be raped,” in response to Yahoo Information.
Instantly after the killings, the brothers instructed police that an intruder had killed their dad and mom. Within the following months, prosecutors stated they started to spend extravagantly on journey, companies and luxurious objects.
Erik confessed the killings to his psychologist, Jerome Oziel, who instructed his then-mistress Judalon Smyth. When Oziel ended the connection, Smyth instructed police concerning the brothers’ involvement within the murders, the Los Angeles Occasions reported. The brothers have been arrested in 1990.
Each brothers’ trials led to mistrial when neither jury might resolve whether or not the boys have been responsible of manslaughter or homicide, in response to the “48 Hours” particular.
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Pictured is a letter allegedly written by Erik Menendez and despatched to his cousin Andy Cano eight months earlier than the killings of Jose and Kitty Menendez. ( SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY)
Of their second trial, Choose Stanley Weisberg restricted testimony concerning the sexual abuse claims and didn’t permit jurors to vote on manslaughter prices as an alternative of homicide prices, in response to ABC Information.
However a letter that Gardner stated was written by Erik Menendez to his cousin, Cano, about eight months earlier than the crime in 1988, which was lately unearthed from a storage unit by Cano’s mom, helps the boys’s abuse claims.
“I have been making an attempt to keep away from dad. It is nonetheless occurring, Andy, but it surely’s worse for me now,” reads the letter, partially. “Each evening I keep up considering he would possibly are available. … I am afraid… He is loopy. He is warned me 100 instances about telling anybody, particularly Lyle.”
Roy Rossello, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, has made claims that additionally assist the brothers’ story. Rossello, now 54, stated Jose Menendez, an govt at RCA data on the time, abused him when he was between 14 and 15 years outdated.
Roy Rossello, member of pop group Menudo, is pictured in New York Metropolis in 1985. This 12 months, at 54 years outdated, he stated in a sworn affidavit that Jose Menendez sexually abused him. ( Michael Ochs archives/Getty Photos)
In a sworn affidavit filed in 2023, he stated that he went to the Menendez dwelling within the fall of 1983 or 1984. He felt like he had “no management” over his physique after ingesting a “glass of wine.” Then, Rossello claims, the elder Menendez took him to a room and raped him. The previous performer stated that the elder Menendez abused him two different instances, earlier than and after a efficiency at Radio Metropolis Music Corridor.
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Gardner cited the letter and the affidavit in a habeas petition filed in Could 2023, asserting that the brothers’ convictions must be vacated.
If the brothers’ convictions are vacated, the Los Angeles County District Lawyer’s Workplace might want to resolve whether or not to retry their instances. In an announcement, the workplace instructed “48 Hours” it’s investigating the brand new claims. It’s unclear when a decide will make a ruling.
