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The brothers admitted to killing their parents before their first trial, so the jury was tasked with understanding why.
While the prosecution argued the pair wanted their parents’ money, the brothers claimed that they acted in self-defense because their father physically and sexually abused them, enabled by their mother. They said they feared their father would eventually kill them.
The brothers’ first trial ended in 1994 with a hung jury. In the second trial, Judge Stanley M. Weisberg made several changes, including limiting testimonies related to the brothers’ abuse claims, and removing the jury’s option of voting on a manslaughter charge. The jury’s had to decide whether the brothers were guilty or not guilty of murder, and chose the former.
The brothers’ appeal petition filed last year, which journalist Robert Rand, who has reported on their case since the ’90s, shared on X, includes a letter Erik Menendez sent to his cousin Andy Cano a year before the murders. In the letter, he writes that he is avoiding his father and alludes to being afraid of him.
The petition also includes a declaration from Roy Roselló, a former member of the boyband Menudo, who was signed to the record label where José Menendez was an executive. He claimed José Menendez drugged and raped him when he was a teenager, and made him perform sexual acts on two other occasions.
The brothers’ attorney hopes this will prove they were defending themselves against abuse to get the lesser charge of manslaughter.
The creators of “Monsters” and “The Menendez Brothers” didn’t want to get involved in the case
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On October 3, George Gascón, the Los Angeles County District Attorney, told a press conference that his office was reviewing the brothers’ case.
Later in October, the LA County District Attorney’s office told Business Insider via email that the “process was already underway” before “Monsters” premiered, and a hearing was set for November 29.
On October 24, Gascón told a press conference that he had moved the decision date because his office was “flooded with requests for information” after “Monsters” premiered.
“I decided to move this forward because, quite frankly, we did not have enough resources to handle all their requests, and one of the things that I thrive to do in this office is to be very transparent in everything that we do,” he said.
Gascón said that he would recommend the brothers be sentenced to 50 years to life and be eligible for parole immediately.
“I came to a place where I believe that under the law, resentencing is appropriate, and I am going to recommend that to a court tomorrow,” Gascon said.
Gascón said it was right the brothers were convicted of murder, but that he believed they had been rehabilitated in prison.
The case will be heard in court where a judge will decide whether to follow Gascon’s recommendation. If the brothers are resentenced, they will have to appear before a parole board to argue their case to be freed.
This could see the brothers withdraw the petition and accept the resentencing. Alternatively, they could continue to pursue their case to vacate their sentences entirely.
Gascón told CNN that he disagreed with the petition’s argument and thought resentencing was more appropriate.
“I think that the conviction was appropriate given what was there,” Gascón said.