Alan Abrahamson, a former Los Angeles Times reporter who covered both Menendez brothers' trials, urges the public to set aside emotions and focus on the facts, calling Lyle and Erik Menendez "stone cold killers."
The brothers gunned down their parents, José and Kitty Menendez with 14 shots as the couple sat watching TV in the den of their Beverly Hills home in 1989.
Abrahamson told Newsweek, at the time their parents sat watching TV, the brothers faced no imminent fear or threat.
The duo shot José five times, including once at point-blank range with a shotgun aimed at the back of his head. As Kitty attempted to crawl away, Lyle shot her in the face with a shotgun. In total, she was shot nine times.
"They burst into the den. They blew their father's brains out," Abrahamson told Newsweek. "Their mother was somehow still alive. Lyle Menendez went back out to the car, reloaded his shotgun, came back in and put the muzzle of the gun against his mother's cheek and blew her face off."
Lyle, who was then 21, and Erik, then 18, admitted they shot-gunned their entertainment executive father and their mother, but said they feared their parents were about to kill them to prevent the disclosure of the father's long-term sexual molestation of Erik.
Initially, the brothers blamed the mob due to their father's connections as a high profile entertainment executive, but the brutal nature of the crime suggested a more personal and emotionally driven motive.
'What matters are facts and law'
In the first Menendez brothers' trial, which began in 1993, Lyle and Erik were charged with the 1989 murders of their parents. They claimed they killed their parents in self-defense.
"Under California law, the only way that theory works is if the brothers were in imminent fear for their life at the moment they pulled out their shotguns and shot their parents to death," Abrahamson said. "Legally it's called imperfect self-defense."
Imperfect self-defense is a legal doctrine reducing a charge of murder to manslaughter when the defendant kills someone under the mistaken belief they were acting in self-defense.
Unlike traditional self-defense, which requires a reasonable belief of imminent danger, imperfect self-defense acknowledges the belief was genuine but unreasonable. The defendant believed they were in danger, but their perception of the threat was not justified under the circumstances.
The brothers' alleged their father had physically and sexually abused them throughout their childhood, creating a traumatic environment leading to their actions.
In the first trial, both Lyle and Erik took the stand, detailing the abuse they endured from their father. They grew emotional as they relived the experiences, describing events beginning when they were just 6 years old.
"There was tons of emotion," Abrahamson said. "But you know, at the end of the day, what matters is not emotion. What matters are facts and law. The brothers are just skilled and unrepentant liars."
The former LA Times reporter told Newsweek he entered the courtroom with an open mind, but he concluded "the weight of the evidence overwhelmingly supports first-degree murder."
The trial ended with two deadlocked juries, unable to agree on whether the brothers were guilty of murder or acted out of fear. This led to a mistrial on January 28, 1994 and set the stage for a second trial in 1995.
'Trial was totally, fundamentally, absolutely, thoroughly fair'
Prosecutors argued there was no evidence of the alleged molestation and the judge excluded most abuse evidence from the second trial. However, Abrahamson said Erik testified at length, but Lyle was unable to testify.
"Lyle Menendez did not testify because he would have been impeached," the journalist said. "During the first trial, he talked to the woman named Norma Novelli and he was caught in some considerable lies. If he had testified, those lies would have come out in court, and that's why he did not testify in the second trial."
Novelli and Lyle spoke frequently on the phone, with Lyle believing she was writing a book about his life. However, Novelli sold the recordings of their conversations without his written or verbal consent. The recordings were later published as The Private Diary of Lyle Menendez: In His Own Words.
"Hopefully there is an awareness that Norma in the end was no real situation. There's a misconception that her tape recording me had some favor in the trial, which is just completely not true," Lyle said in the Netflix documentary The Menendez Brothers. "The Norma Novelli tapes were kept out because on those tapes I am making comments on my feelings about the judge. I felt he was making very biased decisions."
Many individuals believe the brothers did not receive a fair chance during their second trial, however, Abrahamson said, "the trial was totally, fundamentally, absolutely, thoroughly fair" and if it occurred today, "it would be the same."
On February 2, 1996, the jury convicted both brothers of first-degree murder, and they received life sentences without the possibility of parole. The verdict highlighted the complexity of the case and the differing views on justice and mental health issues in the context of violent crime.
"If José Menendez was the world's worst human being, if he was a good father, bad father, or horrible father, no one has ever advanced a theory that the mother was a threat to the boys, ever," Abrahamson said. "And killing her is, by itself, reason enough for the brothers to be convicted of murder and to spend the rest of their lives in prison without parole."
Abrahamson said in 2005, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said the "so-called abuse" evidence is irrelevant.
The court reviewed the evidence step by step, focusing on whether the abuse showed the brothers feared for their lives when they killed their parents. They concluded it did not. While the brothers may have felt a generalized fear, it didn't justify self-defense. Instead, they acted in preemptive strikes.
The Menendez brothers remain in prison while they continue their legal battles. Lyle and Erik are both serving life sentences without the possibility of parole.
However, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón told Newsweek his office is currently reviewing new evidence, emerging in a habeas petition, potentially offering the brothers a chance at justice.
He is reviewing a 1988 letter written by Erik to his cousin about the alleged sexual abuse he endured by his father. The new evidence also includes a statement from a former Menudo member who claims he was also sexually assaulted by José.
"There are people in my office who believe they should never get any relief, and others who believe they should," Gascón said. "I have now decided we will go through a thorough process of investigating both the new evidence for habeas and whether they have been rehabilitated for resentencing."
Alan Abrahamson's Take on the Evidence
Gascón revealed the first piece of new evidence is a letter. In the letter, written allegedly nine months before the gruesome murders, 17-year-old Erik confided in his 15-year-old cousin about the ongoing sexual abuse by his father.
Investigative journalist and author Robert Rand told Newsweek he uncovered this groundbreaking evidence.
Rand published his book, The Menendez Murders: The Shocking Untold Story of the Menendez Family and the Killings that Stunned the Nation, in 2018.
The closing chapter of Rand's book features a revealing letter from Erik to his late cousin, Andy Cano. During his final interviews with the Menendez brothers' aunt Marta Cano, she said her son had a dresser full of papers if he wanted to review them.
Andy Cano, who testified in both of the brothers' trials, tragically died from an accidental overdose involving sleeping pills in 2003. Having built a strong rapport with the family and uncovering critical insights into their story, Rand was invited to meet with Cano at her home in West Palm Beach where he found the letter.
Rand shared an excerpt of the letter:
"I've been trying to avoid dad. It's still happening Andy but its worse for me now. I can't explain it. He so overweight that I cant stand to see him. I never know when it's going to happen and it's driving me crazy. Every night I stay up thinking he might come in. I need to put it out of my mind. I know what you said before but I'm afraid. You just don't know dad like I do. He's crazy! He's warned me a hundred times about telling anyone."
However, Abrahamson said, "No one can say for sure when that letter was written. To have that letter admissible in court, it has to be authenticated. Andy Cano is dead so the letter is not admissible."
Gascón said the second piece of evidence uncovered came from Roy Rossello, a former member of Menudo, who alleged he was also molested by José when he was 14-year-old.
In an updated edition of Rand's 2018 book, released in September, the connection between José Menéndez and Menudo is addressed. This story, along with new evidence, was revealed when Peacock premiered the documentary Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed in May 2023, which Rand and his reporting partner Nery Ynclan produced.
In the documentary, Rand said Rossello claimed he was abused by José on one occasion. However, Rossello claims another incident occurred, as detailed in the habeas petition.
"He stated Menudo performed at Radio City Music Hall in 1985, where José Menéndez came backstage and sexually molested him before and after the concert," Rand said. "José then took him to an RCA Records suite at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, where he raped him all night."
Abrahamson said the father's character, whether good or bad, is irrelevant to the brothers' actions when they burst into the den.
"José Menendez may or may not have sexually assaulted a member of the boy band Menudo is completely irrelevant to anything going on with his sons," Abrahamson said.
Gascón told Newsweek if the habeas petition route isn't pursued, California law allows a prosecutor to request a court to resentence an individual if they are determined to be rehabilitated. This involves demonstrating they have engaged in various activities within the prison system indicating they are ready to reintegrate into the community or have their sentence reduced.
However, Abrahamson believes this decision shouldn't rest with the District Attorney.
"If we as a society want to have a debate about whether certain classes of crimes are eligible for release, we as a society can have that discussion," Abrahamson said. "The place for that discussion is the state legislature. That's who makes those laws, not the DA and the courts."
While Gascón has not yet determined an outcome, a hearing is scheduled for November 29. The district attorney said he has a "complete open mind."
"If you take away the jury verdict, then you make a mockery of what the jury did in 1996," Abrahamson said. "This jury decided these brothers were guilty of first-degree murder and the penalty for that first degree murder is life in prison without parole, and that's where they belong."
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