The family of Lyle and Erik Menendez and attorney Mark Geragos held a press conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday to introduce a new coalition and website, JusticeForLyleAndErik.org.
Their aunt, Joan Vandermolen, urged the public to go to the site and sign the petition asking Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón to grant the brothers a resentencing.
“Their continued incarceration serves no rehabilitative purpose. It’s time to recognize the injustice they’ve suffered and allow them the second chance they deserve,” the brothers’ cousin Anamaria Baralt said. “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.”
“They were just children, children who could have been protected and were instead brutalized in the most horrific ways,” Kitty Mendenez’s sister added. “The truth is, Lyle and Erik were failed by the very people who should have protected them: by their parents; by the system; by society at large. When they stood trial, the whole 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.”
In total, four family members spoke, in addition to a letter read by Jose Menendez’s 85-year-old sister who was unable to attend due to doctor’s orders.
Meanwhile, Geragos said it was “virtually unprecedented” to have 20 members from both sides of the family speak out so publicly. Following the press conference, the group walked to the DA’s Office to voice their demands, under Marsy’s Law.
The Media Relations Division of the L.A. DA’s Office issued the following statement to TheWrap on Wednesday: “The planned news conference today is being hosted by the lawyers and family of the Menendez brothers. The DA’s Office will not attend nor make any announcements at their news conference. A decision regarding the Menendez case has not been made. Once DA Gascón has made a decision, the family members of the victims and the public will be notified.”
On Oct. 3, Gascón announced that, in the wake of heightened attention to the case following the Netflix series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” he would be reviewing the brothers’ 1996 murder conviction.
Geragos mentioned two key pieces of evidence that were not introduced during the initial trial: a letter written by Erik prior to the murders that references the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his father; and a statement from Roy Rosselló, former member of the boy band Menudo, saying he was also assaulted by Jose in the family’s home.
The two brothers, now 56 and 53 years old, respectively, have been imprisoned after being found guilty of the 1989 double murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. Both are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole.
On Sunday, Gascón posted a screenshot to Instagram of a handwritten letter from Erik from December 1988 that references the abuse he and Lyle say they suffered at the hands of their father.
“I’ve been trying to avoid dad. It’s still happening Andy but its worse for me now,” the letter to Erik and Lyle’s cousin Andy Cano read. “I never know when its going to happen and it’s driving me crazy. Every night I stay up thinking he might come in.” As of Tuesday, Gascon’s post had been deleted, CNN reported.
Also on Oct. 3, Gascón said that his office is examining “the possibility being alleged by his lawyers, not by us, that there was evidence that, had it been presented to the jury, the outcome of the trial would have been different.” The family reiterated those assertions in Wednesday’s press conference.
The family hopes the brothers will be released by Thanksgiving to celebrate their aunt’s 93rd birthday, ABC News reported on Wednesday. The Menendez brothers have a hearing scheduled for Nov. 29 in DTLA, but DA Gascón could, in theory, provide an official update at any time.
