New evidence in the 1989 murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez is being reviewed, Los Angeles prosecutors say, in an effort to re-evaluate whether the couple's sons, Lyle and Erik Menendez, should be serving life sentences after being convicted of the murders. Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón clarified that there is no doubt the brothers, now 56 and 53, killed their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion, but his office will be looking at the new evidence to determine whether the brothers should be re-sentenced, the AP reports. The brothers have long said they were abused physically, sexually, and emotionally by their parents and that the murders, which took place when they were 21 and 18, were driven by a fear that their parents planned to kill them to prevent the public from learning about Jose's sexual abuse of Erik.
At the time, prosecutors claimed there was no evidence of any such abuse, and accused the brothers of killing their parents because they wanted the family's multimillion-dollar estate. But the new evidence that will be reviewed includes a letter that Erik Menendez wrote months before the killings that, per his attorneys, corroborates his allegations of sexual molestation at the hands of his father, KTLA reports. A lawyer for the brothers' extended family says the family supports them being released from prison, and believes they should never have been charged with murder, but rather manslaughter. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Nov. 29. (More Erik Menendez stories.)
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