Erik and Lyle Menendez have lost their latest bid for freedom.
On Monday, September 15, a judge denied the brothers’ request for a new trial for the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez.
Erik and Lyle’s attorneys argued that they should be granted a new trial based on additional evidence of Jose’s alleged abuse, including a letter Erik wrote to his cousin in 1988 and former Menudo member Roy Rosselló’s allegations that the RCA music executive had raped him.
“The evidence alleged here is not so compelling that it would have produced a reasonable doubt in the mind of at least one juror or supportive of an imperfect self-defense instruction,” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Ryan said in his ruling, per NBC 4.
The decision comes two weeks after both Lyle, 57, and Erik, 54 — who were resentenced in May from life in prison without the possibility of parole to 50 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole — were denied parole.
“The fight continues. This disappointing decision does not take away from the courage of Roy Rossello or the torment that he lived through at the hands of Jose Menendez,” read a post on Lyle’s Facebook page.
“To claim another rape victim of Jose Menendez would not have affected the decision of at least one juror is quite the exercise in mental gymnastics,” the post continued. “And to claim that the writing of Erik was also meaningless would likewise get a gold medal in the mental gymnastics category.”
The brothers, who have been behind bars for 35 years for the shotgun slayings, are still awaiting a decision on a request that they submitted to California Governor Gavin Newsom to grant them clemency, per NBC 4.
Their cousin, Anamaria Baralt, revealed in an August 22 Instagram video that they could potentially have their next parole hearings in around 18 months.
“They are going to get out,” she said of the pair, who are both serving their time at California’s Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility. “I do want to always remind people that a couple of years ago this was not even a possibility. There is still light at the end of the tunnel.”
