Erik and Lyle Menendez, who admitted to murdering their parents, Mary “Kitty” and Jose Menendez, in a violent 1989 shotgun attack at their Beverly Hills home, have long maintained that their actions were acts of self-defense due to years of physical and sexual abuse.
A court order dated July 8, obtained by Fox News Digital, requires the state to explain why certain evidence was excluded from their trial.
MENENDEZ BROTHERS RESENTENCING: TIMELINE OF KILLERS’ BATTLE FOR FREEDOM IN PARENTS’ MURDERS
Roughly eight months before the killings, Erik reportedly sent a letter to his cousin, Andy Cano, alleging that Jose Menendez sexually abused both brothers.
Additionally, Roy Rossello, a former member of the band Menudo, provided an affidavit claiming that Jose Menendez raped him when he was 14 years old in 1983 or 1984. This accusation surfaced nearly four decades later.
In March 2023, the Menendez brothers filed a habeas petition arguing that if the Cano letter had been admitted as evidence, and if Rossello’s allegation had been presented at their second trial, the jury would have acquitted them.
MENENDEZ BROTHERS RESENTENCED AS EXPERTS CRITICIZE ‘UNJUSTIFIABLE’ ATTEMPT FOR THEIR RELEASE
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, led by Nathan Hochman, responded informally to the petition in February, rejecting the Cano letter and Rossello affidavit as new evidence. They described the Cano letter as “untimely” and dismissed the Rossello affidavit as “inadmissible, irrelevant, and lacking credibility.”
However, on July 8, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan ruled that these documents present enough preliminary evidence to warrant habeas relief.
The district attorney’s office now has 30 days to file a “show cause” response, explaining why the brothers should not be granted this relief.
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While the brothers initially sought a new trial in 2023, they later shifted focus to their resentencing, which Judge Michael Jesic granted in May. Their sentences were changed from life without parole to 50 years to life with the possibility of parole.
They are currently awaiting their parole hearing, initially scheduled for June 13 but postponed to August 21-22.
The Menendez brothers have been incarcerated for 35 years.
