Menendez murder case twist could see brothers freed

The Menendez brothers’ family believe Erik and Lyle are set to be released after a surprise move by the Los Angeles district attorney.

Family of Erik and Lyle Menendez believe the brothers are to be released after a surprise press conference was called by the Los Angeles District Attorney.

It is believed the highly-anticipated press conference will be for the announcement of a revised sentencing recommendation for the brothers, who have served 34 years for the murder of their parents in 1989.

It comes after the new evidence was revealed in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, and Kim Kardashian penned an op-ed calling for their life sentences to be “reconsidered”.

Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón invited several relatives of the Menendez brothers to attend the event at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center courthouse on Thursday, according to a source with knowledge of the plan.

Lyle and Erik Menendez murdered their parents in 1989 and were convicted in 1996. Picture: Getty Images

Nicholas Chavez as Lyle Menendez and Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez in the Netflix series, Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story. Picture: Supplied

The brothers’ aunt Joan VanderMolen said Mr Gascón had invited several family members including her children, Diane, Arnie, and Kathy VanderMolen; and her grandson Erik VanderMolen, according to Vanity Fair, which was first to report the press conference.

Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, were aged 12 and 18-years-old respectively when they shot their father, José, six times in the back of the head and their mother, Kitty, 10 times, including in the face.

Kitty’s brothers, Milton Andersen and Brian Andersen, are not expected to appear. They reportedly don’t believe that the boys were sexually abused by their father.

The Netflix documentary unearthed a newly discovered letter one of the brothers sent to a relative months before the murders, describing his father’s alleged sexual abuse, as well as allegations by former boy band member Roy Rossello, who alleged in a docuseries last year that José drugged and raped him as a teenager in the 1980s.

Mr Gascón previously said they were not ready to say whether they believed the information, but that they had a “moral and ethical obligation” to take a look at the newly-presented evidence.

A press conference attended by family ahead of a hearing on the matter, scheduled for November 29, local time, suggests Mr Gascón plans to announce his recommendation on re-sentencing.

Originally published as Menendez murder case twist could see brothers freed