The convictions of Erik and Lyle Menendez, who had been jailed greater than three a long time in the past for the homicide of their mother and father within the US, are set to be reviewed.
The brothers shot Jose and Kitty Menendez at their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989, in what prosecutors stated was a plot to inherit their father’s fortune.
On Thursday, LA County district lawyer George Gascon stated there was “an ethical and an moral obligation” to evaluate proof submitted by the brothers final yr, which claimed they had been sexually abused by their father and acted in self-defence.
There was renewed public curiosity within the murders since a Netflix collection depicting the occasions was launched in September.
Throughout the authentic trial, prosecutors stated the killings had been motivated by greed, and proof the brothers spent a lot of their giant inheritance on Rolex watches, vehicles and luxurious property previous to changing into suspects made the case infamous within the US.
That authentic trial ended with a hung jury after the Menendez brothers submitted allegations of abuse spanning a number of years.
At a second trial, the abuse claims had been largely withheld. The brothers had been discovered responsible and sentenced to life in jail with out parole in 1996.
New proof now being thought of features a 1988 letter from Erik Menendez to his cousin, which reportedly seems to reference his father’s abuse.
“None of this data has been confirmed,” Gascon – probably the most senior prosecutor in LA Nation – advised a information convention.
He continued: “We aren’t, at this level, able to say that we both imagine or don’t imagine that data.
“However we’re right here to let you know that we’ve an ethical and an moral obligation to evaluate what’s being offered to us.”
He added that his group was “not saying there was something unsuitable with the unique trial”.
Gascon stated a evaluate may doubtlessly result in resentencing or a brand new trial. A listening to is ready for 26 November, the BBC’s US accomplice CBS Information reviews.
Gascon stated his workplace had obtained an inflow of calls following the discharge of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story on Netflix
The drama has induced controversy, with family saying the brothers had been “victimised by this grotesque shockadrama”.
The present’s creator Ryan Murphy has defended the collection, and described the household’s detrimental response as “predictable at finest”.
On Thursday, actuality TV star Kim Kardashian voiced her assist for the brothers, additional fuelling renewed common curiosity within the case.
“They don’t seem to be monsters. They’re type, clever, trustworthy males,” she stated in an article for NBC Information.