Menendez brothers given major blow in latest update with their case 36 years after incarceration
Topics: Crime, Menendez Brothers, US News
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Ted Soqui/Sygma via Getty Images
Topics: Crime, Menendez Brothers, US News
Warning: This article contains discussion of sexual assault which some readers may find distressing.
The Menendez brothers have been handed a major blow some 36 years after they were first in imprisoned for their parents' murder.
Erik and Lyle Menendez were both sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole in 1996 after being found guilty of murdering their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, in August 1989.
During their trial, the siblings claimed that they'd experienced physical, emotional and sexual abuse, which they say pushed them into an unprecedented state of mind to want to kill their parents.
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Nonetheless, Erik and Lyle were sentenced to life without possibility of parole, though the brothers were given hope this year after they were resentenced, meaning that there was a possible they could be freed.
In May, a LA County Superior Court judge granted Erik and Lyle a new sentence of 50 years to life and they became immediately eligible for parole.
This came after a letter emerged which Erik had penned to his cousin in 1988, detailing the alleged abuse he was suffering at the hands of his father.
The note read: "I’ve been trying to avoid dad. It's still happening Andy but it's worse for me now. I never know when it's going to happen and its driving me crazy. Every night I stay up thinking he might come in."
However, last month, Erik was first to be denied parole, while Lyle suffered the same fate shortly after.
And fresh developments surfaced on Monday (September 15) as Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan ruled against the brothers' 2023 petition for a new trial.
The petition claimed the two new pieces of evidence - Erik's 1988 letter and testimony from Roy Rosselló, former member of the band Menudo, alleging he was sexually abused by José as a teen - corroborate the brothers' allegations of long-term sexual abuse.
As per NBC News, the judge said: "The court finds that these two pieces of evidence presented here would not have resulted in a hung jury, nor in the conviction of a lesser instructed offense.
"Neither piece of newly discover evidence is particularly strong. The evidence alleged here is not so compelling that it would have produced a reasonable doubt in the mind of at least one juror or supportive of an imperfect self-defense instruction."
While the judge noted that the new evidence does 'slightly corroborate' the allegations made by the brothers that they were sexually abused, the pair killed their parents with 'premeditation and deliberation'.
"The evidence alleged here is not so compelling that it would have produced a reasonable doubt in the mind of at least one juror or supportive of an imperfect self-defense instruction," Judge Ryan added.
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Or you can chat online via online.rainn.org.