Menendez brothers’ relatives to rally outside L.A. courthouse as DA weighs resentencing
LOS ANGELES — Erik and Lyle Menendez’s extended family is expected to gather outside a Los Angeles courthouse Wednesday as the district attorney weighs whether the brothers, found guilty of killing their parents almost three decades ago, should be resentenced and possibly released.
Nearly two dozen family members will hold a news conference outside the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown L.A. at 1 p.m. PT Wednesday. They will be joined by the brothers’ defense lawyer, Mark Geragos, and Rosie O’Donnell, one of their celebrity advocates.
The timing of the news conference is notable. Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said earlier this month that his office was reviewing the convictions of the brothers, who were found guilty in the 1989 killings of their parents, José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez.
Gascón, a progressive who is running for re-election, will not attend the rally, according to a statement from his office.
“A decision regarding the Menendez case has not been made. Once DA Gascón has made a decision, the family members of the victims and the public will be notified,” the statement said.
The Menendez brothers are “cautiously optimistic” about the prosecutors’ review, Geragos told NBC Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Erik and Lyle Menendez were found guilty 28 years ago and sentenced to life in prison without parole. The case drew wide attention at the time, turning the Beverly Hills brothers into household names and earning them nationwide notoriety.
The legal saga has drawn renewed public interest since the release of “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” a Netflix miniseries co-created by Ryan Murphy, as well as “The Menendez Brothers,” a feature-length Netflix documentary.
The series and the documentary film chronicle the years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse the brothers claim they were subjected to by their father, a record company executive.
The brothers’ lawyers argued they acted in self-defense out of fear and trauma. The prosecution argued they killed their parents to inherit money and went on a spending spree after the slayings.
The brothers were first tried together in 1993, and those televised proceedings ended in hung juries. When they were retried in 1995, most of their sexual abuse claims were deemed inadmissible in court.
The family members slated to speak at Wednesday’s news conference include Anamaria Baralt, niece of José Menendez; Joan Anderson VanderMolen, sister of Kitty Menendez; Karen VanderMolen, niece of Kitty Menendez; and Brian A. Anderson Jr., nephew of Kitty Menendez.
O’Donnell is not the only celebrity who has rallied behind the brothers. Kim Kardashian, who has used her platform to advocate for criminal justice issues, called for them to be released in a personal essay shared exclusively with NBC News this month.
“I have spent time with Lyle and Erik,” the reality TV star wrote in part, and “they are not monsters.” She argued that the siblings were treated unfairly by both the prosecution and the 1990s news media.
In an Oct. 7 news conference, Gascón said that more than 300 people have been resentenced during his term and that only four have gone on to commit crimes again.
Gascón was elected in 2020 on a reformist platform. Recent polls show him trailing his challenger, Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor.
Laurie Levenson, a Loyola Law School professor who specializes in criminal cases, said the renewed public attention around the Menendez case only goes so far.
“It’s in the court of public opinion that can provide some majority support for the defendants, but it’s in the judicial court where the decision will be made,” Levenson said.
