Menendez brothers' family members call for their release as DA weighs resentencing: "They were just children"

Several family members of Lyle and Erik Menendez pleaded Wednesday for the release of the brothers, convicted of murdering their parents decades earlier, saying they suffered "horrific" sexual and physical abuse as children and have rehabilitated during their more than 30 years behind bars.

Nearly two dozen relatives gathered for a news conference in Los Angeles as the case is reviewed by the office of LA County District Attorney George Gascón, who is considering two pieces of new evidence. In 1995, the Menendez brothers were convicted of first-degree murder for the 1989 killing of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in Beverly Hills. The case has received renewed attention on social media, and with the release of a Netflix drama series and documentary on the brothers.  

Last year, attorneys for the Menendez brothers filed a habeas corpus petition challenging their sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Gascón said he is considering possible recommendations for resentencing or a new trial.   

"I never thought this day would come. I am Kitty's sister," Joan VanderMolen, 92, told reporters outside a downtown LA courthouse. "For many years, I struggled with ... what happened to my sister's family. It was a nightmare none of us could've imagined. But as details of Lyle and Erik's abuse came to light, it became clear that their actions – while tragic – were the desperate response of two boys trying to survive the unspeakable cruelty of their father."

"They were just children — children who could've been protected and were instead brutalized in the most horrific ways," VanderMolen said. "The world was not ready to believe that boys could be raped or that young men could be victims of sexual violence. Today we know better. We know that abuse has long-lasting effects and victims of trauma sometimes act in ways that are very difficult to understand."

With generational and cultural shifts around conversations about sexual abuse, several family members said the case would have been viewed differently if it happened today and said the brothers have rehabilitated during their time in prison as they have become advocates for survivors of abuse.

Hours after the news conference, the district attorney's office released a statement responding to the family's sentiments.

"We have heard the heartfelt pleas from the Menendez family regarding a review of this case," the statement reads. "While we cannot formally comment on any decisions at this time, please know that our office is dedicated to a thorough and fair process and is exploring every avenue available to our office to ensure justice is served."

A timeline of the Menendez brothers case

On the evening of Aug. 20, 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, inside the family's Beverly Hills mansion, firing at them with shotguns. 

Through a highly publicized first trial, the case drew national attention.

Prosecutors argued the slayings were motivated by greed. At the trial, the Menendez brothers detailed graphic allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of their father, with some of the accusations supported by the testimony of relatives, friends and acquaintances. Attorneys for Erik and Lyle Menendez told the juries — one for each of the brothers — that the brothers had killed their parents in self-defense. 

Jury deliberations dragged on for weeks before the judge declared a mistral.

In 1995, during a second trial, prosecutors argued the brothers were lying about the alleged abuse, dubbing their defense "the abuse excuse." Much of the defense's evidence relating to the allegations was not allowed into that trial, and Lyle Menendez didn't take the stand. 

The brothers were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

Renewed attention, new evidence

In the more than three decades since the murders, the case has received renewed attention as clips of the trial have circulated on social media in recent years and the brothers' abuse allegations are viewed through a different generational lens. The case again made headlines last month with the debut of the Ryan Murphy Netflix drama series, "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story," followed on Oct. 7 by a new Netflix documentary, "The Menendez Brothers."

On Oct. 3, Gascón announced that the DA's office was taking a fresh look at the convictions, specifically looking at a letter Erik Menendez allegedly wrote to a cousin that mentions his father as well as a rape allegation made by former Menudo member Roy Rosselló against Jose Menendez, who was an executive at RCA Records.

In May of last year, Cliff Gardner, one of the appellate attorneys for the Menendez brothers, filed a habeas petition challenging the convictions. The petition cited a letter allegedly sent by Erik Menendez in December 1988 to his cousin, Andy Cano, which appears to reference alleged abuse by his father as well as the allegation by Rosselló in a sworn affidavit. 

Gardner told CBS News' "48 Hours" about the letter's contents and how it relates to the case. It reads: "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."

"Every night I stay up thinking he might come in," the letter later continues. "... I'm afraid... You just don't know dad like I do. He's crazy! He's warned me a hundred times about telling anyone, especially Lyle."

Lyle Menendez told "48 Hours" that his father's sister discovered the letter in storage. Gardner said there's certain details, including the mention of a Christmas party and hiring of a new tennis coach, that authenticate it and when it was written.

The letter, written about eight months before the murders, was never presented at trial.

The other new potential evidence comes from Rosselló, a former member of Menudo, the Latin American boy band that rose to fame in the late 1970s and 1980s. The group was signed to RCA Records when Jose Menendez was a record executive there. 

In a sworn affidavit filed last year, Rosselló said he was between 14 and 15 when he says the band's then-manager, Edgardo Diaz, directed him to visit the Menendez home in the early 1980s. After he drank "a glass of wine," Rosselló said, he felt like he had "no control" over his body. He spoke out in the 2023 Peacock documentary, "Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed."

"I was in terrible pain for a week. I could barely stand the pain. I couldn't even move," he told the interviewer in Spanish.

Rosselló has alleged that Jose Menendez sexualy abused him on two other occasions — immediately before and after a performance at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. 

A new allegation and an old letter

Since the letter was never presented at trial, Gardner said it can now be used to back the testimony that Andy Cano, its recipient, delivered at both trials. Cano previously told jurors that his cousin Erik Menendez, at age 13, told him that he was being abused by his father.

"Well, the state's position was that Andy was a liar," Gardner said. "Andy was making it up. This shows that Andy wasn't making it up. … It's contemporaneous evidence from Erik to his cousin, Andy, about what was happening."

Mark Geragos, who is also representing the brothers, said the letter, in addition to the declaration from Rosselló, "provides an ample basis to set aside the result of the second trial." He spoke with reporters following Gascón's Oct. 3 announcement.

"I think we're at a point now where any reasonable person taking a look at this case believes they should be out," Geragos said. 

The habeas petition filed last year seeks to vacate the murder convictions since, according to Gardner, they don't apply to the crimes. Manslaughter convictions, for instance, would entail much less prison time.

"The boys were abused as children. They were abused their whole life. ...And this is a manslaughter case, not a murder case. It's just that simple," Gardner said in an interview with "48 Hours."

On Nov. 26, the DA's office is expected to provide an informal response to the petition that could determine their fate.

However, Gascón has said he could also recommend resentencing for the brothers as another option, which he said he has done with more than 300 other cases since he was sworn in as DA in December 2020.

Joan VanderMolen, the sister of Kitty Menendez, has long defended her nephews and supported their allegations of abuse. She told Vanity Fair this week that Gascón invited her and other family members to Los Angeles for the Wednesday news conference.

A statement about the event does not mention Gascón or whether he will be attending. 

"Both sides of the family united"

On Wednesday, family members from both sides of the brothers' family spoke out in support of their release.

"Now, here we are, both sides of the family united sharing a new bond of hope — hope that with the reexamination of their case, a new outcome will be reached, hope that this 34-year nightmare will end and that we will be reunited as a family," said the brothers' cousin and niece of José Menendez, Anamaria Baralt.

Baralt said there is "no rehabilitative purpose" in Erik and Lyle Menendez carrying out the rest of their life sentences in prison. She and other relatives said the brothers have joined rehabilitation programs and become advocates for children who are survivors of abuse. She also read a letter on behalf of her 85-year-old mother, Terry Baralt, who is Jose Menendez's sister.

She said her mother could not attend the news conference in person since her doctors advised against it while she undergoes chemotherapy treatments.

"I wish to make it clear that I stand firmly with this family," the letter reads. "My nephews have spent three decades in prison helping others."

She wrote that they have shown "great growth" during that time, even earning letters of support for their release from supervising law enforcement officers. "Millions across this country agree," she wrote.

"I implore the district attorney's office to end our prolonged suffering and release Lyle and Erik back to our family," she wrote.

Ahead of the news conference, VanderMolen spoke with Vanity Fair and doubled down on her support for them.

"They didn't deserve any of this," she told the magazine. "They were used and abused and there seems to be no end to it." 

VanderMolen said that during the second trial, when the judge would not allow in much of the defense's evidence, "there was no defense whatsoever that would be allowed."

"It was like the abuse never happened," she said. "It wasn't fair at all. I don't know how the jury reached a verdict after a trial so nuts."

Her daughter, Diane VanderMolen, testified during the first trial that when Lyle Menendez was 8 years old, he told her about his father touching him "down there." She said she told Kitty Menendez but the boys' mother didn't believe her. Diane VanderMolen could not testify about that conversation during the second trial since Lyle Menendez didn't take the stand in that trial.

Her other daughter, Karen VanderMolen, said Wednesday that she "grew up knowing and feeling something wasn't right." 

"The feeling in their house and the father-son-interactions were just off, but it was not until the first trial that the full horror of what they had to live through came to light," she said. "No child should ever have to endure that kind of pain. This abuse trapped them. It was painful, and it terrified them."     

Meanwhile, Milton Andersen, brother of Kitty Menendez, has criticized Gascón's recent handling of the case through a statement released Wednesday by his attorney, Kathy Cady. Andersen believes his nephews should remain in prison, according to the statement.

"The Menendez brothers' cold-blooded actions shattered their family and left a trail of grief that has persisted for decades," the statement reads. "Even Gascón acknowledges there's no doubt about who committed this heinous act."

Of the 13 relatives identified in a statement from the family as attending Wednesday's news conference, 10 were from Kitty Menendez' side of the family and three from Jose Menendez' side. 

"Lyle and Erik have already paid a heavy price, discarded by a system that failed to recognize their pain," Joan VanderMolen told reporters Wednesday, her voice breaking. "They have grown. They have changed. And they have become better men despite everything that they've been through."

"It's time to give them the opportunity to live the rest of their lives free from the shadow of their past," she said.