A judge rejected the petition of Erik and Lyle Menendez for a new trial, judging that proof elements showing that they had suffered sexual abuse in the hands of their father would not have changed the outcome of the murder trial which put them in prison for more than 35 years for having shot their parents.
The decision, made Monday by the judge of the Superior Court of the County of Los Angeles, William C. Ryan, is the last blow to the candidacy of the brothers to liberate. The two were denied parole during long audiences at the end of August.
A physical body petition deposited on behalf of the brothers In 2023, they should have been able to present additional evidence to the trial that their father, Jose Menendez, was sexually abusive.
The new proof included a letter from 1988 that Erik Menendez sent his cousin, Andy Cano, saying that he had been mistreated at the end of his adolescence. Roy Rosselló was also made allegations, a former member of the group of boys Menodo, who said that Jose Menendez had raped her.
The brothers have long argued that they were afraid for their lives that their father continues to abuse them and that their parents kill them to cover the nightmarish conditions in their house in Beverly Hills.
The prosecutors argued that the brothers had killed their parents with hunting rifles in 1989 to have access to their massive heritage, and have repeatedly highlighted the wild spending of Erik and Lyle in the months following the death of their parents.
“None of the evidence added to the allegations of abuse that the jury had already considered, but found that the brothers planned, then executed this plan to kill their abusive father and their accomplice mother,” wrote Ryan. “The court concludes that these two elements of evidence presented here would not have led to a suspended jury or to the conviction of a lower invisible offense.”
Ryan agrees with the County of Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman according to which the petition should not grant the brothers a new trial because the evidence of abuse would not have changed the fact that they had planned and carried out the execution style murders.
Ryan wrote that new evidence would not have led to the procedure of the first instance court differently because the brothers could not show that they felt a fear of “imminent danger”.
A spokesperson for the group of more than 30 parents Menendez who was fighting for the release of the brothers did not immediately respond to a request for comments. A spokesperson for the district prosecutor’s office was not immediately available to comment.
The horrible killings occurred after the brothers used money to buy the hunting rifles and attacked their parents while watching a film in the family living room.
The prosecutors said Jose Menendez had been struck five times with hunting rifle explosions, especially at the back of the head, and Kitty Menendez crawled on the wounded ground before the brothers recharge and draw a last deadly explosion.
The petition rejected this week was one of the three paths that Menendez’s legal team continued by looking for the freedom of the brothers. Another judge earlier this year sentenced them to life for the murders, which makes them eligible for parole after being initially sentenced to life prison.
The two were denied their release during their first parole hearing, but could find themselves before the State Panel from 18 months. The petitions of Clémence are also still pending before Governor Gavin Newsom.
The first trial ended with suspended juries for each brother. In the second, the allegations of abuse and testimonies of support were limited, and Lyle and Erik Menendez were found guilty of first degree murder in March 1996.
Erik Menendez insisted that his parole heard that he and his brother had bought the hunting rifles because they thought their parents could try to kill them, or that his father would go to his room to rape him.
“It was going to happen,” he said. “In one way or another. If it were alive, it was going to happen.”
When asked why the two also killed their mother, Erik Menendez said the decision was made after learning that she was aware of the abuse.
“Step by step, my mother had shown that she was united with my father,” he said during the hearing. “That evening, I saw them as one person. If she had not been in the room, it might have been different. ”
