Kin of the infamous Menendez brothers, who are serving life sentences for killing their millionaire parents, are hopeful the siblings will be re-sentenced at a highly anticipated press conference Wednesday, a report says.
A number of relatives of Erik and Lyle Menendez have been invited by LosAngeles District Attorney George Gascón to attend the event at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center courthouse and are expecting a significant favorable update in the notorious case, Vanity Fair reported Monday, citing a source with knowledge of the situation.
The extended family is anticipating the DA will finally recommend that Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, be re-sentenced after spending more than three decades behind bars for murdering parents Jose and Kitty Menendez in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989, the outlet said.
The potential update comes just weeks after Gascón announced his office was reviewing new evidence of alleged molestation in the case to determine whether the brothers should continue serving life sentences without parole.
The siblings have long claimed they killed their parents out of self-defense after enduring a lifetime of physical, emotional and sexual abuse from them.
Lyle, who was 21 at the time, and Erik, then 18, insist they carried out the fatal double shooting over fears their parents were about to kill them to prevent the disclosure of their former RCA Record exec father’s long-term sexual molestation of the youngest brother.
Prosecutors contended at the time that there was no evidence of any molestation and argued the sons were after their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate.
The pair were ultimately convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole.
The brothers filed a petition to have their case reviewed last year after a Peacock docuseries, “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed,” aired allegations that their father had sexually assaulted a former underage member of the 1980s boy band Menudo.
Lyle and Erik argued the new evidence lends credibility to their claims that their father and mother sexually abused them as young kids.
In announcing the review earlier this month, the district attorney said there was no question the brothers committed the murders but that his office would review the evidence and make a decision on whether a resentencing was warranted.
The brothers’ family has believed from the beginning that they should have been charged with manslaughter rather than murder, according to one of their lawyers, Mark Geragos.
The case has gained renewed attention in recent weeks after Netflix began streaming a seperate true-crime drama, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”
