Erik and Lyle Menendez: All the evidence they were telling the truth about being abused
By Helen Fear |Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story on Netflix has once again cast a light on the shocking murders of Cuban-born José, and his wife Mary Louise 'Kitty' Menendez - but were the brothers abused?
The crime and subsequent trial became one of the most talked about and argued over cases in living memory. Crucially, the central question at the heart of the case has always been whether the boys were abused. And, if so, should some leniency have been shown to them?
Here's all the evidence the brothers were abused, including new evidence that could see Lyle and Erik Menendez released early.
Were Erik and Lyle Menedez abused?
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story chronicles the true story of the brothers who schemed to murder both their parents, José and Mary Louise 'Kitty' Menendez.
On the evening of August 20, 1989, José and Kitty were murdered in their Beverly Hills mansion. Lyle and Erik shot José six times, including a fatal shot to the back of the head. They also shot mum Kitty 10 times in total.
Lyle and Erik Menendez were only 21 and 18 at the time.
In 1996, they were convicted for the murders. However, the court case wasn't clear cut.
While the prosecution argued they were seeking to inherit their family fortune, the brothers claimed - and remain adamant to this day - that their actions came after years of abuse.
The young men eventually confessed to killing their parents. But, in a confession to psychologist Jerome Oziel, Erik and Lyle claimed to have killed their parents in self-defence after "a lifetime of abuse" from their "paedophile" father.
They claimed their mother knew about the abuse and ignored it.
Evidence Erik and Lyle Menendez were victims of abuse
In April 2023, new evidence came to light that appeared to support Lyle and Erik's claims of abuse at the hands of their father.
Roy Rosselló alleged that Erik and Lyle's father, José, had sexually assaulted him as a teenager.
At the time of the alleged assault, Roy was a member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo (a band that Ricky Martin was also in).
In a sworn affidavit filed in 2023, Roy Rosselló claimed that José took the then-teenager to his home in 1983 or possibly 1984 and raped him.
The singer also claimed that José - a successful Los Angeles businessman - sexually abused him on two other occasions.
In the Peacock docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, Roy said: "I know what he did to me in his house. That's the man here that raped me... That's the pedophile."
The letter from Erik Menendez to his cousin Andy Cano
Lyle and Erik's defence attorney, Cliff Gardner, is hoping to secure their release based on more new evidence.
The new evidence includes a letter written by Erik Menendez to his cousin, Andy Cano, in December 1988 - eight months before the crime.
In the letter, Cliff Gardner claims, Erik discusses the sexual abuse he allegedly suffered at the hands of his father. Andy Cano testified at the trials that Erik had told him about the abuse years before the killing.
However, prosecutors implied that cousin Andy Cano was lying.
However, the letter could now prove that it wasn't a lie. Part of Erik's letter reads: "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."
Erik Menendez blasts Netflix show
The day after Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story first streamed on Netflix, Erik released a statement on his Facebook page.
He criticised the nine-episode series and its portrayals of himself and his brother. Talking about the abuse they allegedly suffered at the hands of their parents, but mostly their father, he said: "It is sad for me to know that Netflix's dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward - back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women."
Will Erik and Lyle Menendez get released early?
In May 2023, defence attorney Cliff Gardner filed a habeas petition, presenting the new evidence - the letter from Erik to his cousin, and Roy Rossello's affidavit.
A habeas petition is a legal request for a court to examine whether a person is being lawfully imprisoned.
Cliff argues that the new evidence is enough to overturn Erik and Lyle's convictions. He is seeking to secure their early release.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office is reportedly investigating the claims made in the habeas petition.
Lyle and Erik, now 56 and 53, remain incarcerated in separate California prisons.
Their first trial, which ended in January 1994, ended in a mistrial. Jurors could not agree on whether the brothers should be convicted of manslaughter because of the alleged abuse or first-degree murder.
At the end of the second trial, the jury found Lyle and Erik Menendez guilty of first-degree murder. The brothers were sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole.
