On Wednesday, Erik and Lyle Menendez’s family will be pleading for their freedom in a press conference in Los Angeles.
Nearly two dozen family members are traveling to Los Angeles to show their support for the brothers, who have been in prison for nearly 35 years after being convicted of murdering their parents in 1989.
The press conference will be held at Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown.
The brother’s defense attorney Mark Geragos, as well as Rosie O’Donnell, will also be on hand for the press conference.
Geragos told NBC Los Angeles, “They all took it upon themselves to fly in from all over the country. They are united in asking for Lyle and Erik to be released from prison."
According to Geragos, the family is “cautiously optimistic” after L.A. County district attorney George Gascon announced that the DA’s office was reviewing the case after new evidence was presented.
Gascon hasn’t decided on whether to proceed with a new trial or if a new sentence should be given, but a hearing has been scheduled for November 29.
Geragos noted, “The DA has said that he's taken it seriously. He hasn't made a decision, yet. I take his at his word because he's been honest with us all the way along.”
Erik and Lyle’s legal team recently requested a retrial, citing new evidence, including Roy Rosselló’s sexual abuse allegations against Erik and Lyle’s father Jose Menendez. The brothers had claimed sexual abuse by their parents as a mitigating factor in their decision to kill them both.
Their legal team is also bringing attention to a letter that Erik wrote to his cousin Andy Cano about his father’s alleged sexual abuse, sent just months before the murders.
Gascon recently appeared on CNN, saying, “Sensitivity to sexual assault is much more significant today. I think 35 years ago, cultural norms were a little different. There's no question that a jury today would look at this case probably very differently."
He went on, “There's no question that they committed the killings. The question is to what degree of culpability should they be held accountable to, given the totality of the circumstance.”
The murder case has renewed interest thanks to Ryan Murphy’s sensational “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” on Netflix.
After the show was released, Erik issued a statement from prison, criticizing the "horrible and blatant lies" in the show.
“Extra” recently spoke to the stars Cooper Koch and Nicholas Chavez, who reacted to Erik’s criticism.
Cooper showed his support for Erik, saying, “I understand how he feels, and I get how difficult it would be to have the worst part of your life be televised in a dramatized way for millions of people to see, and so I just support him. I understand how that must feel."
Murphy was far less sympathetic to Erik’s complaints, telling THR, “The Menendez brothers should be sending me flowers. They haven’t had so much attention in 30 years. And it’s gotten the attention of not only this country, but all over the world. There’s sort of an outpouring of interest in their lives and in the case. I know for a fact that many people have offered to help them because of the interest of my show and what we did.”
Netflix recently released “The Menendez Brothers,” a documentary that shares Erik and Lyle’s side of the story.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard is sharing her best advice for Erik and Lyle Menendez, should the brothers be released from prison.
A cameraman caught up with Blanchard, who was at LAX with her boyfriend Ken Urker.
Gypsy explained she wasn’t “educated” on the Menendez case, but said, “I am an advocate for abuse victims in general... I’m all about prison reform.”
She went on, “If their case is being reviewed, hopefully something can be done. Abuse victims need to be advocated for more.”
Upon hearing that Kim Kardashian is calling for their release, Gypsy said, “Kim is a wise woman. She makes good decisions… in her prison-reform era.”
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