Family of Erik and Lyle Menendez call for their release and say they’re victims who were vilified

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Multiple generations of family members of Erik and Lyle Menendez pleaded for the brothers’ release from prison on Wednesday, saying they deserve to be free despite life sentences for the 1989 killings of their parents in Beverly Hills because they had been “brutalized” and sexually abused by their father.

At a news conference in downtown Los Angeles, relatives of the Menendezes said the American public “vilified” the brothers in the wake of the notorious crime, which received national attention, and the jurors who sentenced them to life without parole in 1996 were part of a society that was not ready then to hear that boys could be raped.

Joan Andersen VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister, said the wider family did not know about the extent of the abuse, and she’s spent years struggling to come to terms with it all.

“It became clear that their actions — while tragic — were the desperate response of two boys trying to survive the unspeakable cruel of their father,” the 92-year-old aunt said Wednesday.

The news conference was the largest gathering of the multigenerational family since the brothers’ sentencing. The public call for their release — by some 30 relatives from both sides of their parents’ families — comes less than two weeks after the Los Angeles County district attorney announced his office would review new evidence to determine whether the brothers should be serving life sentences.

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Lyle Menendez, who was then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, admitted they fatally shot-gunned their entertainment executive father, Jose Menendez, and their mother, Kitty Menendez, but said they feared their parents were about to kill them to prevent the disclosure of the father’s long-term sexual molestation of Erik.

Several of the family members emphasized that in today’s world — which is more aware of the impact of sexual abuse — the brothers would not have been convicted of first-degree murder. The relatives walked to the district attorney’s office after the news conference Wednesday to speak with prosecutors about the case.

“If Lyle and Erik’s case were heard today, with the understanding we now have about abuse and PTSD, there is no doubt in my mind that their sentencing would have been very different,” said Anamaria Baralt, a niece of Jose Menendez.

Prosecutors at the time contended there was no evidence of molestation, and many details in their story of sexual abuse were not permitted in the trial that led to their conviction. The district attorney’s office then said the sons were after their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate.

George Gascón, the current district attorney, said this month that there is no question the brothers committed the 1989 killings, but after his office looks at the new evidence, prosecutors will make a decision on whether resentencing is warranted. A hearing was scheduled for Nov. 26.

On Wednesday, Gascón’s office said prosecutors met with the family members after the news conference and the case’s evidence and sentencing are under review.

“Our office has developed a more modern understanding of sexual violence since the Menendez brothers first faced prosecution,” the DA’s office said in a statement. “Today, our office acknowledges that sexual violence is a pervasive issue affecting countless individuals — of all gender identities — and we are committed to supporting all victims as they navigate the profound impacts of such trauma.”

But not every family member agrees that the brothers should be released.

Kitty Menendez’s brother, Milton Andersen — who is 90-years-old — said through an attorney that he believes “the appropriate sentence” is life in prison without possibility of parole. Andersen was not available for an interview.

“He believes that there was no molestation that occurred. He believes that the motive was pure greed, because they had just learned that they were going to be taken out of the will,” said Kathy Cady, Andersen’s attorney.

The evidence under prosecutorial review includes a letter written by Erik Menendez that his attorneys say corroborates the allegations that he was sexually abused by his father.

Roy Rossello, former member of the Latin pop group Menudo, also recently came forward saying he was drugged and raped by Jose Menendez, the boys’ father, when he was a teen in the 1980s.

Menudo was signed under RCA Records, which Jose Menendez was the head of at the time.

Rossello spoke about his abuse in the 2023 Peacock docuseries “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.” These allegations are part of the evidence listed in the petition filed last year by the Menendez brothers’ attorney to review their case. Per the petition, Rossello said he was raped twice by Jose Menendez.

Though Kitty Menendez was not mentioned as abusing her sons, she appears to have facilitated the abuse, according to the petition. One cousin testified during the first trial that Lyle told her he was too scared to sleep in his room because his father would come in and touch his genitals. When the cousin told Kitty Menendez, she “angrily dragged Lyle upstairs by his arm,” the petition said.

Another family member testified that there was a rule in the Menendez home that when Jose Menendez was in the bedroom with one of the boys, no one was allowed to walk down the hallway past the bedrooms, according to the petition.

“They tried to protect themselves the only way they knew how,” said Brian A. Andersen Jr., nephew of Kitty Menendez. “Instead of being seen as victims, they were vilified.”

“They are no longer a threat to society,” he continued.

The brothers’ attorneys said the family believed from the beginning they should have been charged with manslaughter rather than murder. Manslaughter was not an option for the jury during the second trial that ultimately led to the brothers’ murder conviction, attorney Mark Geragos previously said.

“The whole world was not ready to hear that boys could be raped,” Joan Andersen VanderMolen said, adding “today we know better.”

The case has gained new traction in recent weeks after Netflix began streaming the true-crime drama “ Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”

Geragos said he hopes to get them released in time for Joan Andersen VanderMolen’s 93rd birthday next month.

“There’s nothing she’d like more than to have them home for Thanksgiving,” Geragos said.

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Associated Press journalists Jaimie Ding and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles and Randy Herschaft in New York contributed.

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This story has been corrected to show Kitty Menendez’s brother’s name is Milton Andersen, not Milton Anderson.