Brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez Face New Hearing After Decades in Prison

Brothers Seek Freedom with New Court Hearing

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) -- A new court hearing has been set on efforts to release Erik and Lyle Menendez, who have both been behind bars at San Diego's Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility for over 30 years for the murder of their parents back in 1989. The brothers were sentenced to life in prison after killing their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, in Beverly Hills.

Their case regained public interest following the release of the Netflix series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” which dramatizes the events of the crime. Their first trial ended in a hung jury in 1993. Then, the brothers were retried in 1995; however, most of the sexual abuse claims were ruled inadmissible by the judge, meaning the jury never heard about them.

Emerging Evidence Sparks Family Calls for Release

Now, three decades later, family members of the two are calling for them to walk free over evidence showing sexual abuse by their father that was not fully considered during their trial. During a press conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Joan Vandermolen, the 92-year-old sister of Kitty, urged for her nephews’ release alongside more than 20 family members.

“Lyle and Erik have already paid a heavy price, discarded by a system that failed to recognize their pain,” she said. Vandermolen and the present family members argued the evidence of sexual abuse by their father should have led to a manslaughter conviction, not murder. Had the lesser charge been applied, they say Lyle and Erik would have been released from prison years ago.

“In the years since their convictions, society’s understanding of sexual abuse and its psychological impact has grown significantly,” Vandermolen added.

District Attorney Reviews Convictions

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said earlier this month his office planned to review their convictions after the evidence was brought to his attention by the Menendez's attorney in a habeas corpus petition last year. This includes a letter Erik wrote to family members months before the killings claiming his father had been molesting him, as well as similar accusations of sexual assault brought by a former member of the boy band Menudo, which José managed.

“My sister Diane had evidence of their abuse that was not allowed to be presented at trial. I cannot help but think of how things could have been different if the world had known the truth back then,” Vandermolen stated.