New evidence could determine the Menendez brothers’ sentencing decision

New evidence could be the key factor in deciding if the Menendez brothers will walk free or spend the rest of their lives in prison.

Erik, 53, and Lyle Menendez, 56, killed their parents 35 years ago, but there’s been a public push to free them. Lyle, who was 21 at the time, and Erik, then 18, have admitted to fatally shooting and killing their entertainment executive father, Jose Menendez, and mother, Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989. The men claim they committed the murders out of fear that their parents were going to kill them to prevent them from speaking out about their father’s long-term sexual molestation. The men are currently serving life in prison sentences without the possibility of parole in California.

WHERE TO WATCH: Menendez Brothers: Monsters or Victims on Hulu (free trial)

The Menendez Brothers: Monsters or Victims episode explores new evidence in the case and reexamines the family’s history. It features interviews with celebrities, family members, Erik’s former psychiatrist, and legal experts. Here’s everything you need to know to watch Impact X Nightline Menendez Brothers: Monsters or Victims, including airtimes, cast details, and streaming information.

Where to watch Menendez Brothers: Monsters or Victims

• Where to stream: Hulu
• Release date: Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024

Impact X Nightline: Menendez Brothers: Monsters or Victims aired exclusively on Hulu on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. You can stream the episode for free without cable during a free trial on Hulu.

Will they walk free?

Last week, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office filed a petition to resentence the brothers, opening up the possibility for parole for each of them. District attorney George Gascon said he believe’s the men have “paid their debt to society.” The petition recommended that they get 50 years to life on two counts of first-degree murder, according to USA Today. Under California law, that would mean the Menendez brothers would be eligible for youth parole immediately, as they were under the age of 26 at the time of the crime and have already served more than 30 years behind bars. It will now be up to a judge and parole board to decide if the men pose a risk to society.

Gascon said multiple factors went into his decision to recommend the resentencing, including multiple family members suggesting “not only that there might have been sexual molestation, but they say this is a very dysfunctional, very abusive home, and it was so for many years.” Other pieces of new evidence include allegations by Roy Rossello, a former member of the 1980s boy band Cano, that their father, Jose, sexually molested him.

A letter that Eric allegedly wrote to his cousin, Andy Cano, in 2015, discussing his father’s sexual abuse, is another piece of key evidence that’s recently come to light. However, Kathleen Cady, an attorney for the Menendez brothers’ uncle, Milton Anderson, said she thinks the letter is a fake. “In just the last few days, I have received information from several different sources that the letter is essentially a fraud,” the attorney stated.

“[The sources] claim they have evidence that would seem to cast doubt on the veracity of this ‘new evidence’ that the defense has submitted in their habeas petition,” she said. “While we certainly hope that the DA’s office has undertaken an analysis of the letter, it is much more likely that the letter, if written by Erik, was written in the last few years and not before the murders as the defense now suggests,” Cady said.

‘Certainly not rehabilitated’

The Menendez brothers’ 90-year-old uncle, Anderson, said he was shocked to learn about the resentencing request, according to his attorney, Cady. “Mr. Andersen has been left in the dark, forced to learn crucial updates about his sister’s case through the media, rather than being treated with the dignity and respect he deserves,” said Cady, per Newsweek.

Anderson, the brother of the men’s mother, Kitty, believes Erik and Lyle acted out of greed after learning that their father was planning to remove them from his will. The couple’s assets were estimated to be valued at over $10 million. “It was only when they [Lyle and Erik] learned that their father was going to take them out of the will because they wouldn’t get a job and they wouldn’t do the tennis circuit that they purchased shotguns under someone else’s name,” Cady said. She also said that the men are “certainly not rehabilitated.”

‘We had no alibi’

Erik and Lyle have spoken out about their parent’s murders in a separate documentary, Monsters: Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which premiered on Netflix on Oct. 7. The interviews were conducted via phone, as the men are still incarcerated at a correctional facility in San Diego, California.

“There should have been a police response, and we would have been arrested,” Erik said. “We had no alibi. The gunpowder residue was all over our hands — under normal circumstances, they give you a gunpowder residue test. We would have been arrested immediately.” Lyle added, “A part of Erik and I died on that night. Even with decades separated, we just felt bonded, almost like twins, we aren’t twins, but we felt like it. This happened because of family secrets and things from our past.”

After the murders occurred, the men allegedly went on a spending spree. Lyle purchased a Porsche, Rolex, and thousands of dollars worth of clothing, while Erik bought a custom Jeep Wrangler. The financial habits are what, in part, led investigators to the brothers as suspects. They were arrested eight months after the murders on March 8, 1990.