THE Menendez brothers, Lyle and Erik, who have been behind bars for over three decades for the brutal murders of their parents, may soon be set free thanks to new evidence that has been unearthed. In a case that captivated the nation, José and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez, the heads of a wealthy family from Beverly Hills , were brutally murdered by their sons with a shotgun in 1989. But new evidence, according to their lawyer Cliff Gardner, would corroborate the brother's story and argued the pair should have been convicted of manslaughter instead of first-degree murder.
The new evidence includes a letter that Gardner says was written by Erik to his cousin, Andy Cano. The letter was written and sent in December 1988, about eight months before the murder took place. "I've been trying to avoid Dad," the letter starts.
Read More News "It's still happening, Andy, but it's worse for me now," Erik continued. "Every night I stay up thinking he might come in. .
.. I'm afraid.
...
He's crazy." "He's warned me a hundred times about telling anyone, especially Lyle." Cano, who testified at the brothers' first trial in the 90s, said under oath that Erik told him his father was touching him inappropriately at age 13, years before the killings.
Most read in The US Sun But prosecutors argued that Cano was lying. The letter was never presented at either trial and was never previously mentioned by Cano, who died in 2003. Cano's mother found the letter in her son's storage within the last few years.
However, this letter isn't the only piece of new evidence that has come to light recently. Roy Rossello , a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, has now come forward claiming that he was also sexually abused by the boy's father in the early 80s. Rossello would've been a minor at the time while José was working as an executive at RCA Records, which Menudo was signed to.
Rossello, now 54, says he went to the Menendez's home in the fall of either 1983 or 1984 when he was about 14 or 15. He says he drank "a glass of wine," and shortly after, felt like he had "no control" over his body. He says José then took him to a room and raped him in the home.
Rossello also states in the affidavit that he was sexually abused by José on two other occasions, including one right before and right after a performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Gardner says that if this evidence had been presented earlier, both brothers would have been convicted of the lesser charge, received much shorter sentences, and would have been out of prison a long time ago. CONVICTED The brothers were tried twice after their first trial ended in a mistrial when two juries, one for each brother, couldn't decide whether the pair were guilty of manslaughter or murder .
Both Erik and Lyle admitted to killing their parents but dropped in bomb in court when they argued that the murders were committed in self-defense after years of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse. They claimed that they feared their parents would kill them to prevent the disclosure of the alleged abuse. In 1995, a second trial was held with a single jury for both brothers.
When they were tried the second time, the judge limited the admissibility of evidence regarding the alleged abuse, which severely weakened the defense's case as they weren't allowed to argue this motive. During their second trial, prosecutors referred to the abuse allegations as "the abuse excuse," and that trial ultimately ended with the brothers being convicted of first-degree murder. They were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The brothers were initially incarcerated in separate prisons but eventually reunited in 2018 at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. THE MURDERS However, the question was never whether the brothers did it, but rather why? On the night of August 20, 1989, José and Kitty Menendez were shot and killed in their Beverly Hills home.
The crime scene was described by police as gruesome. José was shot multiple times, including a shotgun blast to the back of the head. Kitty was also shot several times, but it appeared that she was killed while attempting to flee.
After killing their parents, the boys waited for police to arrive and arrest them. However, when they never showed up, the brothers cooked up a more devious scheme in an attempt to get away with murder. Erik and Lyle called 911, reporting that someone had killed their parents while they were out watching a movie.
Initially, the police did not consider Lyle and Erik as prime suspects, focusing instead on potential mob connections due to José's business dealings at RCA. However, suspicions grew as the brothers began to spend exorbitant amounts of money in the months following the murders, purchasing luxury cars, and expensive clothes, even taking lavish trips. This was a red flag to police, as the boys clearly were not in mourning.
The breakthrough in the case came when Erik confessed to the murders during a session with his psychologist, Dr. L. Jerome Oziel.
Dr. Oziel's mistress later tipped off the police about the confession, leading to the arrest of Lyle in March 1990. Read More on The US Sun Erik was arrested shortly after.
But now, some experts think the new evidence may lead to an entirely new trial for the pair..
