Menendez brothers declare new ‘Menudo’ proof exposes father’s abuse
The Menendez brothers — who had been convicted of killing their dad and mom of their Beverly Hills mansion — declare that new proof leaves little doubt their father sexually abused them earlier than his ugly slaying.
Erik, 52, and Lyle Menendez, 55, requested the court docket vacate their 1996 convictions after an NBC docuseries revealed allegations that their father molested a former underage member of the Nineteen Eighties Puerto Rican boy band “Menudo,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
The submitting additionally features a not too long ago discovered letter that Erik despatched to a cousin eight months earlier than the killings that steered he was being allegedly abused by his father.
“The brand new proof not solely exhibits that Jose Menendez was very a lot a violent and brutal man who would sexually abuse kids, however it strongly means that – actually – he was nonetheless abusing Erik Menendez as late as 1988,” the filing states obtained by the Los Angeles Instances.
The brothers had been convicted of taking pictures and killing their dad and mom, Jose and Kitty, in 1989.
They claimed their mom and father abused them bodily and sexually for years, and through their first trials, jurors couldn’t attain a verdict.
However the pair had been convicted throughout their second trials in 1996 and hit with life sentences.
The authorized submitting obtained by the LA Instances features a handwritten be aware from Erik to cousin Andy Cano who reportedly died in 2003.
“I’ve been making an attempt to keep away from dad. It’s nonetheless taking place Andy however it’s worse for me now. I can’t clarify it,” a part of the be aware reads. “He so chubby that I can’t stand to see him. I by no means know when it’s going to occur and it’s driving me loopy.
“Each evening, I keep up considering he may are available. I have to put it out of my thoughts,” the be aware additionally states with Erik concluding his father informed him “telling anybody.”
Boy band member Roy Rossello claimed he was drugged and raped when he was 13 or 14 by Jose Menendez, who was a high-level govt at RCA within the Nineteen Eighties, in response to the authorized paperwork.
Peacock’s docuseries “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed” first introduced up the allegations by Rossello that appeared into accusations that Latin band members had been abused by the group’s creator, Edgardo Diaz, the LA Instances reported.
Throughout a visit to New York in 1983 or 1984, Diaz requested Rossello to hitch Jose Menendez in a limo that took the 2 to a New Jersey dwelling, the authorized submitting alleged. Inside the house, Rossello was given wine by Menendez after which anally raped, the brothers’ authorized crew contends.
Rossello signed a declaration detailing these accusations, the authorized submitting says.
“Had jurors seen the letter Erik Menendez wrote to Andy Cano, and discovered that Jose Menendez anally raped and orally copulated a 13 or 14 year-old in 1984, the prosecutor wouldn’t have been capable of argue that ‘the abuse by no means occurred,’” the authorized submitting argues.
Earlier appeals by the brothers have been rejected within the courts, the LA Instances reported.
The brothers’ authorized crew is pushing for an evidentiary listening to or for the convictions to be tossed.
The protection within the first trial portrayed quite a few allegations of abuse leveled towards the slain dad and mom, however the second trial restricted what abuse accusations may very well be put ahead, the submitting states.
Prosecutors rejected the notion the Menendez brothers had been abused by their dad and mom earlier than the slayings, in response to the authorized submitting.