Menendez Brothers Get Court Hearing as D.A. Weighs Evidence of Abuse

Erik and Lyle Mendendez are getting yet another date in court. 

Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón announced Thursday, October 3, that a hearing for the brothers has been set amid new evidence that their father, Jose Menendez, allegedly molested them. 

“We have been given evidence. We have been given a photocopy of a letter that allegedly was sent by one of the brothers to another family member talking about him being the victim of molestation,” Gascón said during a press conference, per Variety. “We’ve also got evidence that was provided by the defense, by his lawyers, that one of the members of the [boy band] Menudo alleged that he was molested by the father.” (Jose was working as a music industry executive at the time of his death.)

Gascón said a decision has yet to be made about whether Erik and Lyle will have a new trial or be resentenced in the future. 

“None of this information has been confirmed,” he explained. “We are not at this point ready to say that we either believe or do not believe that information, but we’re here to tell you is 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. If there was evidence that was not presented to the court at that time, and had that evidence been presented, perhaps a jury would have come to a different conclusion.”

The siblings were convicted of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty, in their Beverly Hills, California, home in 1989, when they were 18 and 21 years old. They were sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1996, following two trials. 

The high-profile Menendez murder trial is the subject of Ryan Murphy’s latest Monsters season on Netflix. The series has received backlash from critics, Erik included, who accuse Murphy and his writers room of misrepresenting the facts of the case. 

“I’ll tell you my thoughts about the Menéndez brothers. The Menéndez brothers should be sending me flowers,” Murphy, 58, told The Hollywood Reporter in an October 1 interview. “They haven’t had so much attention in 30 years. And it’s gotten the attention of not only this country, but all over the world. There’s sort of an outpouring of interest in their lives and in the case. I know for a fact that many people have offered to help them because of the interest of my show and what we did.”

On Thursday, October 3, Kim Kardashian — who will appear in Murphy’s upcoming legal series All’s Fair — shared a personal essay with NBC News in which she expressed hope that Erik and Lyle’s “life sentences are reconsidered.”

Kardashian, 43, stated that they “are not monsters” and that she believes they “were condemned before [their] trial even began.” The advocate for justice reform recently spent time with the siblings, who are 53 and 56, respectively, and believes their case is “complex” after getting to know them personally.

“Erik and Lyle’s case became entertainment for the nation, their suffering and stories of abuse ridiculed in skits on Saturday Night Live,” she wrote. “The media turned the brothers into monsters and sensationalized eye candy — two arrogant, rich kids from Beverly Hills who killed their parents out of greed. There was no room for empathy, let alone sympathy.”