At a court hearing on Monday, November 25, Kitty Menendez’s older sister testified that Kitty knew about the sexual abuse Lyle and Erik allegedly suffered from their father, Jose Menendez.
“It breaks my heart that Kitty knew what was happening and didn’t do anything, at least that we know of,” said Joan VanderMolen, 92, during a hearing at the Van Nuys Courthouse in California. “The brothers never knew if they’d be raped on any given night. It’s time for them to come home.
“No child should go through what Lyle and Erik did with their father,” she added.
The judge, Michael Jesic, postponed the brothers’ resentencing hearing from December 11 to January 30. He said he needed more time to review “17 boxes” of documents and allow the newly elected District Attorney, Nathan Hochman, to study the case.
“I’m not ready to proceed,” the judge told the lawyers for both sides.
Lyle and Erik Menendez, who are serving life sentences for killing their parents with shotguns over 30 years ago, were supposed to appear virtually from the San Diego prison where they are held. However, technical issues prevented this.
The brothers’ 85-year-old aunt, Terry Baralt, also spoke during the hearing. “Thirty-five years is a long time,” she said. “I think it’s time for them to come home.
Before the hearing, a lottery was held for the public to secure one of 16 seats in the courtroom.
The push to release the Menendez brothers began in May 2023 when their lawyers filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court. They presented new evidence supporting claims that the brothers were sexually abused by their father. This evidence includes a letter Erik reportedly wrote to a cousin before the killings, describing his father’s abuse, and a statement from Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, who claimed Jose raped him in the 1980s.
Interest in their case has grown recently, helped by Netflix productions Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and The Menendez Brothers, which portrayed the brothers sympathetically. On October 24, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said he would recommend reducing their sentences to 50 years to life, making them eligible for parole. He also said the brothers had shown rehabilitation and had contributed positively to others in prison. On October 30, Gascón announced he supported the brothers’ request for clemency from California Governor Gavin Newsom.
However, Gascón lost his re-election bid. Nathan Hochman, who will take over as District Attorney in December, said he would carefully review the case, including trial transcripts, evidence, and input from all parties involved.
Governor Newsom said he would wait for Hochman’s review before deciding on clemency.
Erik was 18 and Lyle was 21 when they shot their parents in their Beverly Hills home on August 20, 1989. The brothers claimed they killed their parents after years of sexual abuse by their father, which their mother ignored. Authorities, however, argued that the motive was greed, citing the brothers’ spending spree on luxury items after the murders.
In 1996, three years after their first trial ended without a verdict, the brothers were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.
