CNN
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As the Los Angeles County District Attorney considers new evidence that could lead to Lyle and Eric Menendez being released from prison after more than 30 years, nearly two dozen relatives are expected to speak on their behalf at a news conference Wednesday.
In 1996, the Menendez brothers were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty, in their Beverly Hills home.
Although they never denied killing their parents, both men maintained during their trial that they had acted in self-defense and had suffered years of physical and sexual abuse from their father.
The brothers’ lawyers also argued that the judge overseeing the 1996 case did not allow much of the defense’s evidence of abuse to be presented to the jury.
In 2023, attorneys representing the Menendez brothers filed a petition arguing they should be granted relief from their prison sentences based on new allegations about Jose Menendez’s alleged pattern of sexual assault, and a letter Eric Menendez wrote to his cousin alluding to abuse. He endured.
They could get that chance soon, as Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón is considering re-sentencing the brothers based on the evidence presented in the 2023 petition. He announced earlier this month that there is no doubt that the brothers committed the murders, But his office is reviewing the evidence.
In an ABC interview that aired Wednesday, Karen Vander Mollenkoppelli, Eric and Lyle’s cousin, said she remembers noticing the boys’ behavior changing over the years.
“You could see when they were younger that there were these two lively little kids, two boys who became sadder over the years,” Mullen-Copley said.
After more than 30 years in prison, Moline Copley, who was among those scheduled to attend the news conference, said she now feels Lyle and Eric should be released and allowed to return home and be with their family.
“This would be the best birthday gift I could give my mom…it would be taking her nephews home with her for her birthday on Thanksgiving.”
But Kitty Menendez’s brother’s attorney, Milton Andersen, accused Gascón on Wednesday of betraying the victims and their loved ones.
“The cold-blooded actions of the Menendez brothers shattered their family and left a trail of grief that has lasted for decades. Jose was shot six times, and Katie was shot 10 times, including a bullet to her face after Eric reloaded.
Andersen was never informed that Gascón had reassigned the case, nor was he informed of a news conference in which the prosecutor announced a second look at it, according to Cady, who said the prosecutor did not respond to her requests for a meeting.
“Mr. Andersen, like all victims’ families, has a constitutional right to be informed, to have his voice heard, and to have his views taken into account in any decision regarding the case,” Cady said.
CNN has reached out to Gascón for comment.
On Sunday, Gascón posted a photo on social media of the handwritten, undated letter that Menendez’s lawyers submitted as part of their petition.
In the letter, Eric Menendez wrote: “I’ve been trying to avoid my dad. It still happens with Andy, but it’s worse for me now.
He continued: “I never know when it will happen and it drives me crazy. I stay up every night thinking he might come. I have to get this out of my mind.
“I know what I said before but I’m afraid. You just don’t know my father like I do. He’s crazy!”
An image of the letter, which is in the public record, has since been deleted from Gascón’s social media accounts — but the district attorney addressed its potential significance in an ABC interview that aired Wednesday.
Gascón said the letter “is about the offenses that were the cornerstone of their defense.” He told ABC that his office is expected to make a decision on the Menendez brothers’ sentencing sometime this month.
The case resurfaced after the release of the Netflix series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” last month. This month, Netflix also released a documentary about the Menendez case that shows the two men discussing what led up to the murders.
Gascón has said publicly that the documentary prompted a lot of phone calls to his office about new evidence in the case, Lonnie Combs, a former Los Angeles County prosecutor, told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Wednesday.
“This new evidence movement had been sitting on his desk for over a year, but it wasn’t until all the attention and limelight came from this documentary that he now came out and said, ‘I’m going to look at this,'” she said.
She said society has changed the way it views sexual abuse of boys.
“We understand that better,” she added. “We understand the dynamics of it, where sometimes it takes years for victims to be able to talk about the trauma.”
Combs called the timing of the prosecutor’s decision to review the case “a perfect storm,” noting that Gascón has already re-sentenced 300 people in the county in the past year.
CNN’s Ray Sanchez contributed to this story.
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