The Los Angeles District Attorney's Office announced that it will review the case of the Menéndez brothers, sons of an American woman and a Cuban executive, who have been in prison for over 35 years for murdering their parents in 1989.
On November 29, District Attorney George Gascón will announce his decision on whether they should be released or if a new sentence is justified.
The review of the case is due to the emergence of new evidence that could benefit Lyle Menéndez (56 years old) and Erik Menéndez (53 years old), who were sentenced to life in prison.
Their lawyers have presented evidence suggesting that both were victims of sexual abuse by their father, the billionaire José Menéndez, and that this led them to act in self-defense.
Among the evidence is a letter written by Erik in 1988 to a cousin in which he described the abuses by his father, which adds more weight to his claim that they lived in an environment of constant fear.
"I have been trying to avoid Dad. It's still happening, Andy, but it's worse for me now. I can't explain it. He is so overweight that I can't stand to see him. I never know when it’s going to happen and it’s driving me crazy," the letter states.
"Every night I stay awake thinking about who is going to come in. I need to get that out of my mind," he adds.
In addition, there is the testimony of Roy Roselló, a former member of the musical group Menudo, who claims to have been sexually abused by José Menéndez when he was vice president of RCA, the record label of the youth band. This has strengthened the brothers' allegations about the man's abusive behavior towards his children.
So far, the prosecution has not issued a definitive judgment on the veracity of the evidence. However, Prosecutor Gascón has indicated that they have a "moral and ethical obligation" to review it, which could lead to a new sentence or a new trial.
"If that evidence had been available to the court and the jury at the time of the trial, perhaps the outcome could have been different," admitted the magistrate.
The story was recreated in the series Monsters, on Netflix. Starring the Spanish actor Javier Barden in the role of the Cuban businessman José Menéndez, Monsters has revived the case in the United States and has helped bring it to the attention of justice.
Lyle and Erik Menéndez, who were 21 and 18 years old when they shot their parents, never denied committing the crime, but claimed to have suffered physical, emotional, and sexual abuse throughout their lives. They also said they feared their parents would kill them to prevent them from revealing the father's abuse.
The prosecutors argued that there was no evidence of abuse and that the children wanted to access their parents' inheritance of 13 million dollars.
The brothers' lawyers requested the court to overturn the conviction, stating that society's opinion on child sexual abuse has changed.
"We believe that a new sentence is the appropriate outcome. The brothers have served more than 30 years in prison. That's enough," said attorney Cliff Gardner to The Associated Press.
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