The siblings previously testified that they committed the crimes out of fear and self-defense following years of physical, emotional and sexual abuse. New evidence—including an alleged letter Erik wrote to his cousin Andy Cano the year before the killings, outlining the abuse he had endured—has brought the case back to Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón’s focus, as he weighs the brothers’ re-sentencing.
“I’ve been trying to avoid dad. Its still happening Andy but its worse for me now,” the 1995 letter stated. “I never know when its going to happen and its driving me crazy. Every night I stay up thinking he might come in.”
Indeed, José’s niece Anamaria Baralt urged the public to recognize two additional victims in this case—Erik and Lyle.
“Lyle and Eric would continue to be victimized. They would be victims of a system that wouldn’t hear them, and they would be victims of a culture that was not ready to listen,” she said during the news conference. “They would be mocked. They would be called cold blooded killers, left to rot in jail and denied any hope of redemption.”
“It’s time to recognize the injustice they’ve suffered and allow them the second chance they deserve,” she noted. “I am here to ask the district attorney’s office to take into account the full picture, the truth that was hidden for so long. Lyle and Eric deserve a chance to heal, and our family deserves a chance to heal with them.”
As for the brothers’ side of the story, they shared insight into their experience in Netflix’s The Menendez Brothers documentary detailing the brothers’ 1989 murder of their parents. And in it, Erik revealed why he felt they couldn’t have just left their family’s home.
