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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Family members stand behind Lyle and Erik Menendez as they await a
decision that could see them released from prison
By Chelsea Bailey, Amanda Musa and Ray Sanchez, CNN
Updated:
6:25 PM EDT, Wed October 16, 2024
Source: CNN
Relatives of Lyle and Erik Menendez on Wednesday made impassioned
pleas for their release from prison after more than 30 years as the Los
Angeles County district attorney weighs in the murder of their
parents.
More than two dozen family members announced a urging authorities to
review the case and to either throw out their convictions and hold a
new trial or resentence them in light of evidence they said
demonstrated the brothers were victims of abuse at the hands of their
father.
In 1996, the Menendez brothers were convicted and sentenced to life in
prison without the possibility of parole for the shooting deaths of
their parents, Jose and Kitty, in their Beverly Hills home.
Although they’ve never denied killing their parents, both men
maintained during their trial that they acted in self-defense and
suffered years of physical and sexual abuse from their father.
Anamaria Baralt, niece of José Menendez, told reporters Wednesday,
“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.”
Baralt read a statement from Terry Baralt, Jose Menendez’s sister:
“I implore the district attorney’s office to end our prolonged
suffering and release Lyle and Erik back to our family. Thirty-five
years is such a long time. My prayer is that I live long enough to see
my nephews again and to hug them once more.”
Attorneys for the brothers have also argued that the judge overseeing
the 1996 case did not allow much of the defense’s evidence of abuse
to be presented to the jury. The lawyers and relatives of the brothers
said they were vilified as murderers rather than being seen as victims
of a brutal predator.
In 2023, attorneys representing the Menendez brothers that argued they
should be granted relief from their prison sentences based on new
allegations that speak to Jose Menendez’s alleged pattern of sexual
abuse, and to a cousin that alludes to abuse he endured. Attorneys also
pointed to a sworn statement by former Menudo boy band member, Roy
Rosselló, who alleged Lyle and Erik’s father sexually assaulted him
in the 1980s. José Menendez was a record company executive at the
time.
On Wednesday, Joan VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister, told
reporters: “I had no idea the extent of the abuse they suffered at
the hands of my brother-in-law. None of us did. We know that abuse has
long effects, and victims of trauma sometimes act in ways that are very
difficult to understand… The whole world was not ready to hear that
boys could be raped.”
Brian Andersen Jr., nephew of Kitty Menendez, said the brothers “are
no longer a threat to society.”
“They tried to protect themselves the only way they knew how. Instead
of being seen as victims, they were vilified,” he said.
Los Angeles District Attorney is weighing resentencing the brothers
based on evidence filed in the 2023 petition. He announced earlier this
month there is no question the brothers committed the murders, but that
his office is reviewing the evidence.
Joan VanderMolen said the actions of the brothers were “the desperate
response of two boys trying to survive the unspeakable cruelty of their
father.”
“They were just children. Children who could have been protected and
were instead brutalized in the most horrific ways,” she said.
In an interview with ABC that aired on Wednesday, Erik and Lyle’s
cousin, Karen Vander MolenCopley, said she remembers noticing the
boys’ demeanor change over the years.
“You could see when they were younger that there were these two
lively young children, young boys who just became sadder and sadder
through the years,” MolenCopley said.
After more than 30 years in prison, MolenCopley, who is among those set
to be at the news conference, said she now feels Lyle and Erik should
be released and allowed to come home and be with their family.
“That would be the best birthday present to give to my mother …
would be to have her nephews home with her on her birthday at
Thanksgiving.”
But an attorney for Kitty Menendez’s brother, Milton Andersen,
accused Gascón on Wednesday of betraying victims and their loved ones.
“The Menendez brothers’ cold-blooded actions shattered their family
and left a trail of grief that has persisted for decades. Jose was shot
six times, and Kitty was shot ten times, including a shot to her face
after Erik reloaded,” the attorney, Kathy Cady, a retired prosecutor,
said in a statement.
Andersen was never informed that Gascón had reassigned the case, nor
was he told about a news conference in which the district attorney
announced a second look at it, according to Cady, who said the
prosecutor has not responded to her requests for a meeting.
“Mr. Andersen, like all victims’ families, has a Constitutional
right to be informed, to have his voice heard, and to have his opinions
considered in any decision about the case,” Cady said.
After Wednesday’s news conference, attorneys for the Menendez
brothers did not respond to questions about relatives opposed to their
release.
CNN has reached out to Gascón for comment.
On Sunday, Gascón on social media of the handwritten, undated letter
the Menendez attorneys submitted as a part of their petition.
In the letter, Erik Menendez wrote, “I’ve been trying to avoid dad.
Its still happening Andy but its worse for me now.”
He continued, “I never know when its going to happen and its driving
me crazy. Every night I stay up thinking he might come in. I need to
put it out of my mind.
“I know what you said before but I’m afraid. You just don’t know
dad like I do. Hes crazy!”
The image of the letter, which is in the public record, has since been
deleted from Gascón’s social media accounts – but the district
attorney addressed the potential significance of it in an interview
with ABC that aired Wednesday.
The letter “is all about the abuse which was the cornerstone of their
defense,” Gascón said. He told ABC his office is expected to make a
decision on the Menendez brothers’ sentence sometime this month.
The case has reemerged following last month’s release of the Netflix
series,“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” Netflix also
this month on the Menendez case featuring both men discussing what
led to the murders.
Former Los Angeles County prosecutor Loni Coombs told CNN’s Jim
Acosta on Wednesday that Gascón has said publicly the documentary has
generated a lot of phone calls to his office about new evidence in the
case.
“That new evidence motion had been sitting on his desk for over a
year, but it wasn’t until all the attention and the spotlight came
from this documentary that he now steps out and says, ‘I’m going to
look at this,’” she said.
Society has changed the way it views sexual abuse against boys, she
said.
“We understand it better. We understand the dynamics of it, that
sometimes it takes years for the victims to be able to talk about the
trauma,” she added.
Coombs described the timing of the district attorney’s decision to
review the case as “a perfect storm,” noting Gascón has already
resentenced 300 people in the county in the past year.
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