Menendez brothers’ claims of abuse supported by newly found letter, new allegation. Will their convictions stand?

This story initially aired on March 2, 2024. It was up to date on Sept. 28.

Lyle and Erik Menendez have been behind bars in California for greater than three a long time for the 1989 killing of their mother and father, Jose and Kitty Menendez. Convicted of first-degree homicide and sentenced to life in jail in a case that captured the nation’s consideration, they’d no hope of ever strolling free. However new proof might change that.

Erik selected to not communicate with “48 Hours” for this broadcast, however Lyle did, talking with contributor Natalie Morales by telephone from RJ Donovan State Jail in San Diego, California.

Operator: You’ve a pay as you go name from—

Lyle Menendez: Lyle Menendez …

Operator: This name and your phone quantity will probably be monitored and recorded.

Natalie Morales: Hello, Lyle. Are you able to hear me?

Lyle Menendez: Hello. Yeah, I can hear you.

Natalie Morales: What did you suppose whenever you heard about these … new claims and proof …

Lyle Menendez: I imply, for me, I simply was comfortable … ’trigger it’s a burden to be telling what occurred to you and simply have a lot doubt within the public air.

The query shouldn’t be whether or not the Menendez brothers killed their mother and father. They admit that they did. As a substitute, the main target of the case has lengthy been why they did it. They insist that they killed out of concern and in self-defense after a lifetime of bodily, emotional, and sexual abuse suffered by the hands of their mother and father. One in all their legal professionals, Cliff Gardner, says the brand new proof corroborates these claims—and lessens their culpability.

Cliff Gardner: If the decide finds this proof credible, I feel it’s ample to offer them a brand new trial.

THE MENENDEZ MURDERS

However to know how we bought right here, we’ve got to return to the start: the night of Aug. 20, 1989, when Lyle Menendez made this name to 911 from the household’s Beverly Hills mansion:

911 OPERATOR: Beverly Hills Emergency?

LYLE MENENDEZ: Sure, please, uh —

911 OPERATOR: What’s the issue?

Lyle Menendez: (Crying) Somebody killed my mother and father!

911 OPERATOR: Pardon me? —

LYLE MENENDEZ: (Sobbing) Somebody killed my mother and father!

After officers responded to the scene, then-21-year-old Lyle and 18-year-old Erik reported that they’d arrived house to seek out their mother and father shot to loss of life within the household room. Jackie Lacey was a deputy district lawyer in Los Angeles on the time.

Jackie Lacey: I feel one of many Beverly Hills detectives … described it as probably the most … brutal crime scene he had ever seen in his life.

POLICE NEWS CONFERENCE: I’ve been on this enterprise for over 33 years, and I’ve heard of only a few murders that have been extra savage than this one was.

Jose Menendez, a former high government at RCA Data, and his spouse, Kitty, had been shot a number of instances at shut vary with a shotgun.

Jackie Lacey: It was an expression of hatred for these two individuals.

Milton Andersen, Kitty’s older brother, nonetheless remembers receiving the information.

Milton Andersen: My brother known as me, and he stated that Kitty and Jose have been – have been lifeless … I liked her … Sister Kitty was a really bold gal … She was a really stunning … lady.

Kitty and Jose met once they have been in faculty in Illinois. Jose had come to the U.S. from Cuba. They went on to marry and begin a household. Lyle and Erik have been their solely youngsters. Over time, with Kitty by his aspect, Jose excelled in his profession, working for RCA Data, amongst different main corporations.

Milton Andersen: He was going proper up the ladder … with none hesitation. 

On the time of his loss of life, Jose was working for a movie studio, working their house video division. Investigators initially suspected that the killings might have been tied to his enterprise dealings.

Jackie Lacey: Lyle … type of indicated, , my dad handled shady characters. And when you say one thing like that, detectives are going to begin to take a look at, OK, what have been his enterprise contacts?

Members of the family and investigators puzzled whether or not it could have been mafia associated. On the time, the house video business was identified for having ties to the mob.

Milton Andersen: All people stated it was a mob hit.

Jackie Lacey: As a result of it was so brutal. … It – it actually was like a scene out of … “The Godfather” films.

Initially, Lyle and Erik Menendez weren’t even on investigators’ radar.

Jackie Lacey: They didn’t do any gunshot residue take a look at on their arms. They allow them to return … and get proof with out even considering, “hey, could it have been the kids?”

However they didn’t keep off investigators’ radar for lengthy. Their habits within the wake of the crime ultimately drew scrutiny. The brothers seemed to be spending their mother and father’ cash — and many it.

Jackie Lacey: They have been … Investing in companies. … They acted like they’d gained the lottery.

And their habits at their mother and father’ memorial providers raised some eyebrows.

Milton Andersen: On the podium … Lyle learn a letter from Jose … that was full of love and pleasure for his sons.

Natalie Morales: Did you see Lyle get emotional as he was studying that letter?

Milton Andersen: No. … Lyle additionally made an announcement that his father at all times stated, “you can never fill my shoes.” And he jokingly stated, “guess what? I’m wearing my father’s shoes today.”

Natalie Morales: Struck you as odd that he would say one thing like that.

Milton Andersen: I—very odd.

Whereas all which will have appeared uncommon, it wasn’t arduous proof. However then, about six months later, police bought a tip from an unlikely supply: the girlfriend of a psychologist who Lyle and Erik Menendez had been speaking to. She instructed police that the brothers had confessed to the killings in remedy and there was an audiotaped recording of it.

Jackie Lacey: However for that confession, who is aware of whether or not they would’ve ever been caught?

On March 8, 1990, after police bought their arms on that tape, Lyle Menendez was taken into custody. Erik Menendez, who was overseas on the time, surrendered to police days later.

DAN RATHER | “CBS Evening News”: Not many Hollywood homicide mysteries ever took a extra dramatic flip than police are describing in a few savage Beverly Hills killings.

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NEWS REPORT: Police say the motive was apparently cash. A $14 million inheritance to be shared by the brothers.

However years later, when the case made its strategy to trial, the brothers would make it clear that it won’t be so easy.

DEFENSE ATTORNEY JILL LANSING (in court docket): On August twentieth, 1989, did you and your brother kill your mom and father?

LYLE MENENDEZ: Sure.

JILL LANSING: Why did you kill your mother and father?

LYLE MENENDEZ: As a result of we have been afraid. (emotional)

MURDER OR SELF-DEFENSE? THE MENENDEZ BROTHERS GO ON TRIAL

In the summertime of 1993, practically 4 years after Jose and Kitty Menendez have been gunned down of their house, their sons, Lyle and Erik Menendez, went on trial. They confronted the loss of life penalty.

LESLIE ABRAMSON (Protection opening at trial): Good afternoon … The one query on this case is why did these killings happen? … Why they have been killed is what the main target of all of our proof will probably be on.

What the protection was arguing was that since this was a self-defense case, the brothers have been deserving of a lesser cost and punishment. The protection attorneys who tried the case didn’t reply to “48 Hours”‘ requests for an interview. Cliff Gardner represents Lyle and Erik Menendez at the moment.

Cliff Gardner: That they had the protection of … imperfect self-defense.

Imperfect self-defense, which means the brothers truthfully believed that they needed to take motion to avoid wasting their lives, although it won’t appear rational.

Cliff Gardner: And if it’s sincere however unreasonable … You’re culpable of manslaughter, not of homicide.

Each brothers took the stand. Lyle Menendez spoke of sexual abuse by the hands of his mom and father. He stated his father started sexually abusing him when he was solely 6 years outdated.

LYLE MENENDEZ (in court docket): He would, uh, fondle me and he would ask me to do the identical with him.

Over time, he stated, it turned worse.

LYLE MENENDEZ (in court docket): He’d rape me (crying).

However whereas Lyle stated his father stopped sexually abusing him when he was 8, Erik stated it by no means ended for him, and that he lastly confided in his older brother days earlier than the crime — at age 18.

ERIK MENENDEZ (in court docket): I didn’t know what to do on the time. So, I figured I’d inform Lyle and perhaps he may assist me.

LYLE MENENDEZ (in court docket): He began telling me that … one of many causes he had by no means instructed me earlier than was as a result of my dad had at all times threatened his life.

The brothers testified that Lyle quickly confronted their mother and father, and that their mom indicated she knew concerning the abuse all alongside. In anger, Lyle stated he directed a menace at his father.

LYLE MENENDEZ (in court docket): I instructed him that I’d inform all people … Then he stated, … all of us make decisions in life, son. Erik made his. You’ve made yours.

JILL LANSING: What did you suppose was gonna occur?

LYLE MENENDEZ: I believed we have been at risk. I believed he had no—he felt he had no selection.

JILL LANSING: However to what?

LYLE MENENDEZ: That he would kill us.

The brothers testified that they bought into one other argument with their mother and father on the evening of the crime and that they believed their mother and father have been about to kill them to maintain the household secret from popping out. So, they stated, they grabbed shotguns that they’d purchased two days earlier for cover, went into the household room and began taking pictures their mother and father — at one level, even stopping to reload.

JILL LANSING (in court docket): And what did you do after you reloaded?

LYLE MENENDEZ (crying): I ran round, shot my mother.

To bolster their claims of abuse, the protection known as to the stand quite a few kin, buddies and acquaintances of the household who described incidents of bodily and emotional abuse that they stated they noticed. Alan Andersen, Lyle and Erik’s cousin, was a type of witnesses. Rising up, Alan would spend summers on the Menendez house. He had so much to say about Jose.

Alan Andersen: Hitting the children with the belt, by no means had an issue with that.

And Kitty.

Alan Andersen: She wouldn’t stand up to console the youngsters, nothing.

Whereas not one of the witnesses, together with Alan, ever noticed Lyle or Erik Menendez being sexually abused, Alan did recall one thing that struck him as odd.

Alan Andersen: Jose would inform the boys, “In the bedroom” … after which he would shut the door after which he’d take showers with ’em.

He says throughout that point, Kitty wouldn’t let him go close to the room.

Alan Andersen: So, I used to be not allowed, whereas the boys have been alone with Jose with the door closed in the main bedroom, to go down the corridor to in all probability not hear no matter I could hear.

One other cousin, Diane Vandermolen, gave comparable testimony. And she or he additionally recounted a dialog she says she had with Lyle when he was 8.

DIANE VANDERMOLEN (in court docket): Um, he proceeded to point to me by touching himself, uh, down and — and saying that his dad and him had been touching one another down there.

JILL LANSING: And what did you do?

DIANE VANDERMOLEN: I went and bought Kitty and, uh, … instructed her what was occurring.

JILL LANSING: And what occurred when Kitty got here down?

DIANE VANDERMOLEN: Uh, she didn’t imagine me.

Andy Cano, one more cousin, additionally took the stand and testified a few dialog he says he had with Erik when Erik was about 13.

ANDY CANO (in court docket): He instructed me his father was massaging his d***. … He instructed me by no means to disclose it to anyone.

Nonetheless, prosecutors argued that even when Lyle and Erik Menendez have been abused, it doesn’t give them the proper to kill. They usually identified that when the brothers confessed to that psychologist, they by no means talked about abuse or self-defense then.

Jackie Lacey: The timing of disclosure was handy.

The prosecutors who tried the case didn’t reply to “48 Hours”‘ request for an interview. Former Los Angeles County D.A. Jackie Lacey reviewed parts of the trial at our request.

Jackie Lacey: And folks do make issues up when their life is on the road.

However all these years later, Lyle Menendez maintains they’re telling the reality and the explanation they didn’t come ahead then was difficult.

Natalie Morales: What was holding you again?

Lyle Menendez: Simply disgrace. Simply not wanting it to be public.

The pure nature of the crime, nevertheless, says Lacey, doesn’t help the brothers’ declare that they acted in self-defense. Prosecutors identified that Jose and Kitty have been watching TV on the time they have been killed, and so they weren’t armed.

Jackie Lacey: As a way to get shut sufficient to blow any person away … you’ll’ve been capable of see that they didn’t have weapons.

Lyle Menendez is adamant that he and his brother have been in concern for his or her lives.

Lyle Menendez: For me, it was simply darkish and complicated and whole perception that there was hazard. … You understand, it’s struggle or flight to a level. … It was panic.

The prosecution argued the proof proves the killings have been premeditated. When the brothers bought these shotguns, prosecutors stated that they took steps to cowl their tracks, like driving to a gun retailer all the best way in San Diego.

Jackie Lacey: San Diego shouldn’t be an across the nook drive. Final time I checked, it was two hours generally.

Jackie Lacey: After they killed their mother and father, they went round and picked up the expended shotgun shell casings in order that their fingerprints wouldn’t be found on these shells. … there was numerous thought and numerous deliberation that went into it.

Additionally they removed the shotguns, made that 911 name —

OPERATOR: Who’s the person who was shot?

LYLE MENENDEZ (Crying): My mother and my dad.

— and misled the preliminary investigators. Prosecutors pointed to cash because the motive. They stated Jose Menendez instructed his sons he had eliminated them from his will—and primarily based on their investigation, they recommended that after the crime, Lyle Menendez tried to destroy a will on the household laptop. Lyle denies doing that and insists cash had nothing to do with what occurred. If there was a brand new will, it was by no means discovered.

Lyle Menendez: We by no means had any monetary issues with my mother and father.

Though the brothers have been tried collectively, there have been two separate juries deciding their destiny. When deliberations started, they stretched on for weeks earlier than each juries decided they have been divided over whether or not Lyle and Erik Menendez needs to be convicted of homicide or manslaughter.

JUDGE (in court docket): Due to this fact, I discover that the jury is hopelessly deadlocked.

A mistrial was declared.

Lyle Menendez: It was only a devastating outcome. I wanted it to be over in some way.

Nevertheless it was removed from over. Prosecutors would attempt the case once more.

Jackie Lacey: They wanted a win. … the warmth was on.

THE RETRIAL OF LYLE AND ERIK MENENDEZ

Practically two years handed as Lyle and Erik Menendez sat in jail, awaiting a second trial. A few of their relations, like Alan Andersen, believed that they have been justified within the killings.

Alan Andersen: I do know they did what they did as a result of they have been in concern of their life.

Whereas others — like Kitty’s brother, Milton Andersen, thought-about them cold-blooded killers.

Milton Andersen: I don’t imagine that Jose or Kitty would do any of the issues that they have been accused of. … Jose was altering his will … And that’s once they went out and purchased the shotguns.

On the retrial, which started in October 1995, one jury, as an alternative of two, would hear the case, no video cameras have been allowed in court docket—and a brand new workforce of prosecutors would make use of a distinct technique.

Cliff Gardner: The primary trial was, OK, there might have been abuse, however we don’t permit vigilantes in our society. … The second trial, the prosecution’s case, there was no abuse in any respect.

And what made it simpler for prosecutors to argue that, says lawyer Cliff Gardner, is the truth that the prosecution raised new and profitable objections to the admission of a considerable amount of protection proof. Now, the jury would hear from just some — not all—of the witnesses who knew the Menendez household and helped corroborate the brothers’ claims of abuse.

Cliff Gardner: The D.A. was not going to take one other loss. They may not take one other loss.

The decide, who had additionally presided over the primary trial, excluded the testimony on the grounds that it was irrelevant, repetitive and in some cases, missing in basis — as a result of this time, Lyle Menendez wouldn’t take the stand.

Natalie Morales: Erik did testify. Why did you determine to not communicate?

Lyle Menendez: Uh, for 2 causes. I used to be simply performed after the primary trial. … And I didn’t have … the lawyer that … I trusted a lot to ask me these deep private questions.

However Carol Najera, the one surviving lead prosecutor from the second trial, who declined to talk with “48 Hours,” recommended in a 1996 interview there might need been one more reason why Lyle didn’t take the stand.

Carol Najera (1996 interview): There have been issues that had been developed because the first trial that may have broken his credibility an incredible deal.

Prosecutors stated they’d new proof that Lyle had requested a good friend and a former girlfriend to manufacture testimony. Lyle admits to “48 Hours” that he did do this, however says he later withdrew these requests. As a result of Lyle didn’t take the stand, his cousin, Diane Vandermolen, was prohibited from testifying about that dialog she says she had with Lyle when he was 8, during which she says Lyle instructed her that his father was touching him. The jury did nonetheless hear from cousin Andy Cano about that comparable dialog he claimed to have had with a 13-year-old Erik, however the prosecution attacked his credibility.

Cliff Gardner: The state’s place was that Andy was a liar.

And when cousin Alan Andersen took the stand, prosecutors attacked his credibility too — mentioning the truth that Lyle Menendez gave him cash after the crime. Andersen says it was to assist pay for a medical process.

Alan Andersen: He didn’t say something like, effectively, if I’m going to court docket, , or no, he, it was simply straight up between him and I, him being a pleasant cousin, understanding I used to be in monetary bind, he knew he had the sources to assist me.

On the second trial, prosecutors positioned extra of a concentrate on the brutality of the crime. They usually painted Jose as a restrained, loving father—somebody incapable of molesting his youngsters. Prosecutors referred to the brothers’ protection as “the abuse excuse.” Within the first trial, the protection known as greater than 50 witnesses, this time they known as about half.

Cliff Gardner: It wasn’t that they didn’t need to current them. They weren’t allowed.

The jury deliberated for days, after which a verdict: responsible of first-degree homicide.

Lyle Menendez: I hugged my brother, we cried, and I stated, “look, we’re gonna be OK.”

Alan Andersen: I used to be not comfortable in any respect.

On the jury’s suggestion, the brothers have been sentenced to life in jail with out the potential of parole. 

Natalie Morales: And also you imagine they deserved that?

Milton Andersen: Oh, what they did to my sister … they need to have gotten the loss of life penalty.

Lyle and Erik Menendez have been despatched to separate prisons. Greater than twenty years handed after which, round 2020, the case made a stunning resurgence on social media. Following a documentary that aired on the case during which Erik Menendez repeated his claims of abuse, droves of individuals took to TikTok and Instagram to specific help for him and his brother.

Dr. Judy Ho is a neuropsychologist who focuses on childhood intercourse abuse trauma. Dr. Ho can be a “48 Hours” advisor. We requested her to evaluate the case.

Dr. Judy Ho: I positively suppose that our society has simply develop into extra educated about trauma and the affect of sexual trauma.

Dr. Ho says analysis exhibits that simply because the brothers delayed reporting abuse, it doesn’t imply they made it up.

Dr. Judy Ho: That’s all very in keeping with individuals who have been by way of trauma and perhaps really feel prefer it was even their very own fault in some methods … Or they’re ashamed of the trauma … And there’s much more self-stigma and disgrace related to male victims.

She additionally says that the abuse the brothers describe, may even assist clarify why the crime was so brutal.

Dr. Judy Ho: It is smart that in that second, it’s nearly like a breakdown. … And that’s to not make an excuse for something that they’ve performed, nevertheless it’s simply to explain the frame of mind of that is years and years of abuse, the place they … couldn’t act to guard themselves … And as soon as they pulled the set off, it was like, there was no turning again.

However may Lyle and Erik Menendez have really been in concern for his or her lives that evening?

Natalie Morales: They’re 18 and 21. … Why couldn’t they go away?

Dr. Judy Ho: Proper. Properly, definitely there was a path that they may have taken is to attempt to get away from the household … Nevertheless it seems like even at that age, they have been very a lot below the management of their father nonetheless. … I feel that oftentimes what persons are not conscious of is that trauma fully rewires the mind … They in all probability did suppose at one level it was both them or their mother and father. That it was a struggle or flight conditioning that had come up.

Legal professional Cliff Gardner believes the case can be tried in another way at the moment.

Cliff Gardner: The thought again then was, A, dads don’t molest their youngsters. … And if by likelihood it occurred, these are 18 and 21-year-old youngsters. They’re strapping younger males. They only go away. … And each these, I feel, are undercut in — in what we all know at the moment.

Nonetheless, a greater understanding of the results of sexual abuse and a few social media help would do little on their very own to make a distinction within the brothers’ case legally. As a substitute, what their protection wanted was new proof, and ultimately, that’s what it bought.

Natalie Morales: Did you or Erik suppose that one other particular person would accuse your father … of kid molestation?

Lyle Menendez: I didn’t. … I couldn’t imagine it.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CASE

Over time, Lyle and Erik Menendez appealed their convictions, however have been unsuccessful. It appeared unlikely that they might ever see past jail partitions. However then, new proof started to floor. The primary piece within the type of a letter.

Lyle Menendez: Simply sort of out of the blue, certainly one of, uh—my father’s sister discovered a letter in storage.

Appellate lawyer Cliff Gardner says the letter was written by Erik Menendez to his cousin, Andy Cano, in December 1988, about eight months earlier than the crime.

Natalie Morales: It’s not dated, however you have been capable of get a body of reference of the timing of it primarily based on the contents of the letter, proper?

Cliff Gardner: Precisely. … he talks concerning the Christmas celebration. We all know the Christmas celebration that they placed on … was in Christmas of ’88. He talks about hiring a brand new tennis coach … There’s a variety of issues within the letter that permit us to authenticate when it was written.

And it’s a selected part of the letter that Gardner says is essential.

Cliff Gardner: He says … “I’ve been trying to avoid dad. It’s still happening, Andy, but it’s worse for me now. … 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.”

Cliff Gardner: Nobody knew about it at trial. … It was by no means offered.

Bear in mind, Andy Cano did testify at each trials. He stated that Erik Menendez, at age 13, confided in him that his dad had been touching him. Prosecutors recommended that Cano was mendacity.

ANDY CANO (in court docket): He defined to me that these massages that his father was giving him have been starting to harm.

Natalie Morales: The letter is important, why?

Cliff Gardner: Properly, the state’s place was that Andy was a liar. Andy was making it up. This exhibits that Andy wasn’t making it up. … It’s contemporaneous proof from Erik to his cousin, Andy, about what was taking place.

However the letter was only the start. Extra proof has surfaced that Gardner says additional helps Lyle and Erik Menendez’s longstanding claims that they have been sexually abused. A person named Roy Rossello has come ahead claiming that he was sexually abused by Jose Menendez, too.

Cliff Gardner: Roy … was a member of the boy band Menudo, which was large within the late ’70s, mid-’80s.

Menudo originated in Puerto Rico. The band is greatest identified for producing large title expertise like singer Ricky Martin. The thought behind the band was to maintain it perpetually younger. Few of the performers remained within the group past the age of 16, as an alternative being rotated out for youthful expertise. It seems, Jose Menendez had ties to the group.

Cliff Gardner: Jose Menendez … was working at RCA on the time and RCA signed Menudo to a recording contract.

Former Menudo member Roy Rossello, now 54, was not accessible for an interview with “48 Hours,” however in a sworn affidavit filed simply final yr, he claims he went to Jose Menendez’s house within the early-80s on the route of the band’s then-manager Edgardo Diaz. Rossello would have been between 14 and 15 years outdated on the time. He says he drank “a glass of wine,” then felt like he had “no control” over his physique. He says Jose Menendez took him to a room and raped him. Rossello first spoke publicly concerning the allegations in a documentary.

ROY ROSSELLO (from Peacock documentary, translated from Spanish): I used to be in horrible ache for per week. I may barely stand the ache. I couldn’t even transfer.

Rossello additionally alleges that he was sexually abused by Jose Menendez on two different events, proper earlier than and proper after a efficiency at Radio Metropolis Music Corridor in New York.

Cliff Gardner: I met Roy and he talked to me about it. … it was a tough dialog for him. And it was tough for me to listen to … however I believed Roy was credible … It may take years for individuals to acknowledge what occurred to have the braveness to return ahead.

Lyle Menendez: After I first heard about it … I — I cried. … For me, it was very significant to only have issues come out that prompted individuals to essentially understand, OK … no less than this a part of what it’s about is true.

Lyle Menendez says he remembers Menudo band members coming over to the household house once they lived in New Jersey, earlier than transferring to Beverly Hills. He doesn’t recall Rossello particularly.

Natalie Morales: What do you keep in mind concerning the Menudo band members going to your house?

Lyle Menendez: Solely that my father had some intimate involvement with that specific group. … He often wouldn’t have an excessive amount of involvement with teams apart from negotiations. However with Menudo and Edgardo Diaz … he traveled with them. … He went to their concert events. He stayed in accommodations that they stayed at.

Lyle Menendez says he didn’t suppose a lot of it— till rumors started surfacing in direction of the top of he and his brothers’ first trial.

Lyle Menendez: Folks within the business have been speaking about that perhaps one thing had occurred … as a result of there was a intercourse scandal within the group.

Rossello, together with different former Menudo members, have lengthy accused Edgardo Diaz — the band’s one-time supervisor— of sexual abuse. Diaz has at all times denied the allegations and no expenses have been filed in opposition to him. The Los Angeles Police Division lately investigated a selected incident during which Rossello alleged Diaz raped him at this lodge within the Nineteen Eighties. The L.A. County D.A.’s workplace is now reviewing the case. However what does this new proof imply by way of Lyle and Erik Menendez’s case?

Cliff Gardner: The significance of the brand new proof, you need to look again and perceive what the state’s place was on the second trial. The state’s place was that the sexual abuse by no means occurred. … And the state’s place as to Jose Menendez was he wasn’t the kind of one that would molest a younger boy. This new proof takes each these arguments and undercuts them completely …

Gardner has filed a habeas petition asking that his purchasers’ convictions be vacated.

Cliff Gardner: The boys have been abused as youngsters. They have been abused their complete life. … and this can be a manslaughter case, not a homicide case. It’s simply that straightforward.

And in the event that they have been convicted of manslaughter, they might have obtained a a lot shorter sentence and been out a very long time in the past. However will a decide purchase Gardner’s argument?

Jackie Lacey: It’s … very, very doable that … Jose Menendez was a baby molester. … However you don’t get to homicide him and his spouse in chilly blood.

COULD THERE BE ANOTHER TRIAL FOR THE MENENDEZ BROTHERS?

After lawyer Cliff Gardner filed the habeas petition in Could 2023 asking that Lyle and Erik Menendez’s convictions be vacated, it become a ready recreation for a decide to rule. “48 Hours” requested former D.A. Jackie Lacey what she makes of the brand new proof, beginning with that letter – the one which seems to have been written by Erik Menendez to his cousin Andy Cano months earlier than the crime.

Jackie Lacey: The attention-grabbing factor concerning the letter is that … there are solely two individuals who can authenticate it. … Andy Cano … and Erik Menendez.

Andy Cano died in 2003. And Lacey factors out that he by no means talked about the letter when he testified.

Jackie Lacey: You’ll suppose … when Andy was on the stand twice, he’d have introduced that up. And, oh yeah. He instructed me about it lately. And right here’s the letter.

Natalie Morales: The timing of that letter, although, you’ll be able to type of pin down as a result of , it was the vacations, as a result of he writes about his Christmas plans.

Jackie Lacey: However Natalie, have a look at it one other means. … You could possibly embrace these particulars and get that letter collectively … after they have been caught. … This letter for all we all know may have been written by Erik Menendez … shortly after the homicide, given to Cano and Cano might have gotten chilly ft about it and never submitted it.

However Gardner argues the brand new proof is sound. He says the explanation the letter was not introduced up at trial is probably going as a result of Erik Menendez and Andy Cano forgot about it.

Cliff Gardner: Should you have a look at the letter, it’s not nearly what Jose’s been doing. It’s about all types of different issues … it was simply certainly one of many letters that they wrote to one another. … There actually shouldn’t be any doubt concerning the authenticity of the letter.

And as for Roy Rossello, the previous Menudo band member?

Natalie Morales: Are you able to low cost his claims altogether?

Jackie Lacey: No … I feel what the decide has to weigh and take into account is: is that this newly found proof that may’ve modified the decision?

And Lacey says she doesn’t imagine it will have.

Jackie Lacey: They’re nonetheless caught with the planning … the cover-up, the cash that they spent afterwards. … I feel that you possibly can argue … the sexual abuse occurred … However, for the time being these males are driving all the way down to San Diego, paying for … the homicide weapons, coming again and ready for an opportune time to go in and kill their mother and father, the molestation shouldn’t be occurring proper then. … I don’t imagine that on the time they murdered them, that they have been at risk at that specific minute of being murdered by these individuals. I feel they hated them. They may have had an excellent purpose to hate them. … However we will’t condone vigilantism. … If you calmly and logically appeared on the information surrounding the killing, it’s a homicide.

PIC FROM SECOND TRIAL

However Gardner believes the brand new proof would have made a distinction to the jurors. He says proof of abuse can mitigate against the law— and that’s why prosecutors fought so arduous to maintain it out of the second trial.

Cliff Gardner: Sexual abuse, bodily abuse is related to your frame of mind. And frame of mind is the important thing in figuring out whether or not one thing is homicide or whether or not one thing is manslaughter.

Cliff Gardner: What this proof does, is … it places you again within the scenario that they have been in with the primary trial, that there was corroboration for the abuse.

And within the first trial, keep in mind, two juries have been divided over whether or not the brothers ought to have been convicted of homicide or manslaughter. Gardner thinks this new proof, mixed with that of the primary trial, guidelines out homicide completely.

Cliff Gardner: My hope within the case is that the decide will understand that this new proof is certainly credible and persuasive, and he’ll vacate the convictions.

If that occurs, it will be as much as the Los Angeles County District Legal professional’s Workplace whether or not to retry the case. In an announcement, the District Legal professional’s Workplace stated it’s investigating the claims made within the habeas petition. Alan Andersen needs to see his cousins launched.

Alan Andersen: What I’d say to the prosecutor, or the decide can be, please have a look at all the proof … they’re talking the reality … They shouldn’t be in there so long as they’ve been.

However nonetheless, Kitty Menendez’s brother, Milton Andersen, feels simply the alternative. He says he doesn’t imagine the brand new proof is credible.

Milton Andersen: I don’t suppose it’s proof.

And he needs his nephews to remain put.

Milton Andersen: I feel they need to die of outdated age in jail … I liked my sister, and I protected her in life, and I’ll love my sister and defend her in her loss of life.

Lyle Menendez says he understands his uncle’s ache.

Lyle Menendez: A part of my regret is for the ache I prompted to individuals like him.

As they await a decide’s determination, Lyle and Erik Menendez, who reside in the identical jail since 2018, are centered on rehabilitation and persevering with their training.

Lyle Menendez: I join with different prisoners which have intercourse abuse histories, work with them.

Each brothers are married to ladies outdoors jail.

Lyle Menendez: I feel it has made an enormous distinction to have love and help like that … I attempt to not be outlined by that one evening. It’s type of a lifelong journey to not be outlined by that one evening.

It’s unclear when a ruling will probably be made within the case.

“48 HOURS” POST MORTEM PODCAST

Hear as host Anne-Marie Inexperienced, Natalie Morales and “48 Hours” coordinating producer Alicia Tejada focus on what’s modified because the Menendez brothers’ first trials and the brand new proof which will set them free after being behind bars for over three a long time.    

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Produced by Stephanie Slifer and Chuck Stevenson. Alicia Tejada is the coordinating producer. Michelle Fanucci and Anthony Venditti are the event producers. Chelsea Narvaez is the affiliate producer. Ken Blum, Marlon Disla and Diana Modica are the editors. Lourdes Aguiar is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the chief editor. Judy Tygard is the chief producer.