A Los Angeles Superior judge has denied the Menendez brothers’ petition for a new trial, saying the new alleged evidence they presented would not have changed the initial decision that put them away for life.
On Monday, LA Superior Court Judge William Ryan denied the writ of habeas corpus filed by Erik and Lyle Menendez in May 2023. The petition claimed that two new pieces of evidence proved the brothers’ father, Jose Menendez, was sexually abusive.
“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,” Ryan wrote in his ruling.
CBS Los Angeles has reached out to the Menendez brothers’ appellate attorney, Mark Geragos, for a comment and is waiting for a response.
One of the pieces of evidence included a letter from 1988 that Erik Menendez sent to his cousin Andy Cano detailing that he was allegedly abused by his father as a teen. The other piece was a declaration from Roy Rossello, who was their father’s former boy bandmate, that claimed that he was raped by Jose Menendez.
The brothers have maintained the stance that they killed their parents in self-defense after alleging physical, sexual and emotional abuse.
Ryan added that neither of the pieces was “particularly strong” and did not add to the “allegations of abuse that the jury already considered.”
The habeas corpus petition was just one avenue the Menendez brothers were exploring to secure their freedom. They were initially sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the killings of their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez, inside their Beverly Hills home.
In May 2024, they were resentenced by a judge to 50 years to life in prison, which made them immediately eligible for parole. The Mendez brothers went before a state parole board in August, where they were both denied.
The brothers are still waiting for a decision on their clemency petitions sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman has been an outspoken opponent of their release and petition for a retrial. At a Tuesday afternoon news conference, Hochman applauded the judge’s decision as he called the habeas motion meritless. It “does not come close to meeting the factual or legal standard to warrant a new trial,” Hochman said.
“The central defense of the Menendez brothers at trial has always been self-defense, not sexual abuse. The jury rejected this self-defense defense in finding them guilty of the horrific murders they perpetrated; five different appellate state and federal courts have affirmed those convictions, and nothing in the so-called ‘new’ evidence challenges any of those determinations,” Hochman said. “Our opposition to this ‘Hail Mary’ effort to obtain a new trial over 30 years later makes clear that justice, the facts, and the law demand the convictions stand.”
