With the arrival of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story on Netflix, interest in the Menendez brothers’ infamous murder case has spiked in recent weeks—leading many to wonder if 56-year-old Lyle and 53-year-old Erik might be released one day. Now, their freedom appears more likely than ever.
After his office reviewed additional evidence and received a flood of requests from the public about the case, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón on Thursday announced he will recommended a resentencing for the Menendez brothers. Gascón will ask a judge to grant Lyle and Erik life sentences with the possibility of parole, meaning they would be eligible for the latter immediately.
“I believe that they have paid their debt to society,” Gascón said during a news conference, adding that he believes the brothers experienced “a tremendous amount of dysfunction in the home and molestation.” Staff within the district attorney’s office said a court hearing about the resentencing could happen within 30 to 45 days.
Lyle and erik menendez sit inside a courtroom at wooden tables and face forward, lyle is wearing a blue prison uniform, erik is wearing a gray prison uniform with a white long sleeve shirt underneath.
Why the Menendez Brothers Killed Their Parents
Erik and lyle menendez stand outside a home and stare at the camera, the front door is open, erik wears a jacket over a tshirt with shorts, lyle wears a tshirt with pants.
Where Are the Menendez Brothers Now?
Lyle and Erik were convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 for killing their parents, José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez. The brothers shot them to death at their Beverly Hills mansion on August 20, 1989, allegedly so they could inherit their parents’ $14 million estate.
However, the brothers claimed the killings were an “imperfect self-defense” after a lifetime of physical and sexual abuse from their parents. After their first trials resulted in hung juries, allegations of abuse were restricted in the second trial, and prosecutors insisted the abuse claims were lies. The brothers were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole. They are currently incarcerated at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.
However, attorneys for the brothers pointed to two pieces of evidence they say confirm the abuse allegations. One is the letter Erik wrote just eight months before the murders. Additionally, the lawyers have referred to claims in the 2023 docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, in which a former member of the boy band Menudo alleges José, who was an executive at RCA Records, also targeted him.
This prompted Lyle and Erik’s attorneys to submit a writ of habeus corpus in May 2023. “In short, the new evidence not only shows that José Menendez was very much a violent and brutal man who would sexually abuse children, but it strongly suggests that—in fact—he was still abusing Erik Menendez as late as December 1988. Just as the defense had argued all along,” the court petition stated.
The following month, a judge asked the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office to file an informal response to the petition, according to The Los Angeles Times. The Menendez brothers’ attorneys asked that the judge vacate the convictions and sentences or allow a new evidentiary hearing regarding the abuse claims.
The appeal stalled for more than a year until earlier this month when Gascón announced his office was reviewing the evidence, which ultimately led to his resentencing recommendation that will be filed in court Friday.
Erik’s Letter: “I‘ve Been Trying to Avoid Dad”
The 1988 letter written by Erik Menendez was discovered by José Menendez’s sister, Marta Cano. It had been sent to her son, Andy Cano, who had been close with his cousins and testified at their trials. In the letter, Erik describes continued sexual abuse at the hands of his father and the emotional toll caused by it.
“I’ve been trying to avoid dad. It’s still happening Andy, but it’s worse for me now,” the letter reads. “I can’t explain it. He [sic] so overweight that I can’t stand to see him. I never know. When it’s going to happen and it’s driving me crazy. Every night, I stay up thinking he might come in. I need to put it out of my mind.”
Monsters the lyle and erik menendez story l to r chloë sevigny as kitty menendez, javier bardem as jose menendez in episode 206 of monsters the lyle and erik menendez story cr miles crist netflix 2024
José Menendez: Perfectionist or Abusive Father?
Andy died from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills in January 2003, when he was 29. His mother, Marta, said Andy was “traumatized” by the killings and subsequent trials and couldn’t cope with the incarceration of his cousins. “I have no doubt in my mind that Andy is dead because of them,” she said.
Roy Rosselló: “I Know What He Did to Me”
Roy Rosselló, seen in a portrait for Menudo in 1985, claims José Menendez sexually assaulted him when he was 14. Roy Rosselló, 54, a former member of the boy band Menudo, said in the Peacock docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed that José Menendez molested him in the mid-1980s, when he was 14. He claimed the band’s manager organized a visit to Menendez’s house, during which Menendez drugged and raped him.
“I know what he did to me in his house,” Rosselló said in a clip from the docuseries. In another scene, he pointed to Menendez in a photograph and says, “That’s the man, here, that raped me. This guy. That’s the pedophile.” Prosecutors for Lyle and Erik’s second trial said “the abuse never happened” and that José wasn’t the “kind of man that would be abusing his sons,” according to the petition filed by the brothers’ attorneys. They claim Erik’s letter and Rosselló’s claims say otherwise.
“To resolve this case, jurors had to decide a single, critical question: Was José Menendez molesting his sons?” the attorney wrote. “Jurors making this determination did not know of Erik’s letter to his cousin Andy, and they did not know that José Menendez had previously raped a 14 year-old boy.”
DA: Case review was a “moral, ethical” obligation
Earlier in October, district attorney Gascón confirmed that both a photocopy of Erik’s letter and Rosselló’s claims in the documentary were part of the information his office planned to review in the case. He also announced a new court hearing for the brothers.
Gascón emphasized the new evidence, even if found to be true, wouldn’t change the fact that Lyle and Erik were responsible for their parents’ killings. “We’re here to tell you that we have a moral and an ethical obligation to review what is being presented to us and make a determination based on a resentencing side, whether they deserve to be resentenced—even though they were clearly the murderers—because they have been in prison for years and they have paid back their dues to society,” Gascón said, according to Variety.
Notably, the announcement of the review came amid an explosion of interest in the case thanks to Monsters, the hit anthology series that previously profiled serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. The nine-episode Netflix saga accumulated more than 31 million views within a week and a half of its release on September 19. Despite raising awareness of the siblings’ story, the series drew criticism from younger brother Erik. In a statement his wife shared, he said the show features “vile and appalling character portrayals” of him and his brother.
A documentary about the siblings titled The Menendez Brothers followed on the streamer October 7 and featured new prison interviews with both Lyle and Erik.
Cliff Gardner, an attorney for the brothers, previously told the Associated Press a resentencing is appropriate given the new evidence and society’s clearer understanding today of how physical and sexual abuse affects children compared to the time of Lyle and Erik’s trials. “The brothers have served more than 30 years in prison. That is enough,” he wrote.
Now, district attorney Gascón agrees. Ultimately, a judge will have the final say in whether the Menendez brothers are resentenced to life with the possibility of parole. That sentence typically carries a 50-year to life imprisonment, but because Lyle and Erik were under age 26 when they killed their parents, they would be eligible to go in front of a parole board immediately.