LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge will decide Monday whether new evidence warrants a re-examination of the convictions of Erik and Lyle Menendez in the shotgun murders of their parents in their Beverly Hills home more than 30 years ago.
The brothers were found guilty of murdering Jose and Kitty Menendez in 1989 and sentenced to life in prison without parole. While their defense attorneys argued at trial that they had been sexually abused by their father, prosecutors denied that and accused them of killing their parents for money. In the years that followed, they repeatedly appealed their convictions without success.
Now, at 53 and 56, Erik and Lyle Menendez are making a new bid for freedom. Their lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition — a request for a court to examine whether someone is being lawfully detained — in May 2023, asking a judge to consider new evidence of their father's sexual abuse. “Newly discovered evidence directly supports the defense presented at trial,” the petition said.
The recent releases of the Netflix drama “ Monsters: Lyle and Erik Menendez Story ” and the documentary “The Menendez Brothers" in 2024 brought renewed public attention to their plight. Members of the public will be given the opportunity to win a seat in the courtroom to catch a glimpse of the brothers, who will be appearing virtually.
Prosecutors recommended resentencing for the brothers last month, saying they have worked on redemption and rehabilitation and demonstrated good behavior inside prison.
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón held a news conference less than two weeks before Election Day, asking for new sentences of 50 years to life. This could make them immediately eligible for parole because they were less than 26 years old when they killed their parents.
Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic is scheduled to consider the resentencing request on Dec. 11, but on Monday, he'll first address the abuse evidence raised in the habeas petition. Immediate freedom is one possible result; the judge also might weigh in on the merits of the evidence. And if the brothers don’t get relief in court, they can hope California’s governor will grant them clemency.
The new evidence includes a letter Erik Menendez wrote in 1988 to his uncle Andy Cano, describing the sexual abuse he had endured from his father. The brothers asked their lawyers about it after it was mentioned in a 2015 Barbara Walters television special. The lawyers hadn't known of the letter and realized it had not been introduced at their trials, making it effectively new evidence that they say corroborates allegations that Erik was sexually abused by his father.
More new evidence emerged when Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin pop group Menudo, recently came forward saying he had been drugged and raped by Jose Menendez, the boys’ father, when he was a teen in the 1980s. Menudo was signed under RCA Records, where Jose Menendez was chief operating officer.
Rossello spoke about his abuse in the Peacock docuseries “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed," and provided a signed declaration to the brothers’ lawyers.
Had these two pieces of evidence been available during the brothers' trial, prosecutors would not have been able to argue that there was no corroboration of sexual abuse, or that their father Jose Menendez was not the “kind of man that would” abuse children, the petition argues.
While clemency might be another pathway to freedom for the brothers, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said last week that he won't decide until incoming Los Angeles district attorney Nathan Hochman reviews the case. Hochman, a Republican-turned-Independent who unseated the progressive Gascón on Dec. 2, has said he wants to carefully look at the evidence before making any decisions.
FILE - Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez sit with defense attorney Leslie Abramson, right, in the Municipal Court in the Beverly Hills area of Los Angeles, during a hearing, Nov. 26, 1990. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)
FILE - This combination of two booking photos provided by the California Department of Corrections shows Erik Menendez, left, and Lyle Menendez. (California Dept. of Corrections via AP, File)
BRASÍLIA, Brazil--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 25, 2024--
On November 19, local time, in the presence of Mr. Geraldo Alckmin, Vice President of Brazil and also the Minister of Development, Industry, Trade, and Services, Luckin Coffee and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency signed a “Memorandum of Cooperation” in Brasília, the capital of Brazil. According to the agreement, building on the initial June contract for the purchase of 120,000 tons of Brazilian coffee beans over two years, Luckin Coffee will procure an additional 120,000 tons. Over the next five years, from 2025 to 2029, Luckin Coffee is scheduled to purchase a total of 240,000 tons of Brazilian coffee beans, valued at 10 billion RMB. This agreement represents the company’s most substantial coffee bean procurement initiative to date.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241122201281/en/
At the signing ceremony, Dr. Jinyi Guo, Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Luckin Coffee, commented: “Fifty years ago, China and Brazil ‘toasted with coffee instead of wine,’ ushering in a new era of mutual cooperation and shared fortunes. Fifty years on, coffee, as a testament to the friendship between China and Brazil, has created significant opportunities for industrial collaboration based on mutual benefit and complementary strengths, effectively promoting the socio-economic development of both nations. As we enter the next ‘Golden Fifty Years’ of Sino-Brazilian relations, Luckin Coffee aspires to be an ambassador of integrated coffee industry cooperation between our two countries, further propelling the continuous high-quality development of our coffee industries, making premium Brazilian coffee is celebrated and appreciated globally.”
During this visit to Brazil, Luckin Coffee inaugurated several key initiatives: Luckin Coffee's Brazilian Office, the Luckin Brazil Growers Support Center, and Luckin Coffee's High-Quality Coffee Plantation. These initiatives will enhance Luckin's quality control capabilities in the upstream supply chain, support the exploration and implementation of sustainable coffee certification standards, and lay a solid foundation for the company's ongoing efforts to build a global high-quality supply chain.
As the coffee chain with the most stores in China, Luckin Coffee has emerged as one of the primary importers of Brazilian coffee beans in the Chinese market. In recent years, Luckin Coffee's economic, trade, and cultural collaborations with various Brazilian stakeholders have deepened significantly. In 2022, Luckin announced its plans to purchase approximately 45,000 tons of Brazilian coffee beans over a three-year period. This June, Luckin elevated its trade cooperation with Brazil by signing a letter of intent to purchase 120,000 tons of Brazilian coffee beans over two years. Furthermore, this year Luckin Coffee and the Brazilian Embassy co-launched the Luckin Coffee Brazil Coffee Culture Festival, hosted a series of World Barista Championship (WBC) professional tasting salons, and successfully concluded the Brazilian leg of Luckin Coffee's “Odyssey to the God Shot (Global Bean Search Journey)”. The first Luckin Brazilian coffee-themed store and the Luckin Brazilian Coffee Museum were also recently inaugurated.
The flourishing Chinese coffee market offers Luckin Coffee valuable opportunities to deeply engage in the global coffee trade and supply chain development. The intensified collaboration with the Brazilian coffee industry has elevated industrial cooperation between the two nations to a new level, greatly enhancing their influence in the global coffee industry. Looking ahead, Luckin Coffee will continue to actively contribute to the innovation and development of the global coffee industry, integrate superior global resources, develop a world-class coffee supply chain system, and promote high-quality growth of the Chinese coffee market. While consistently satisfying consumers' demands for high-quality coffee, Luckin Coffee continues make progress toward its goal of becoming a distinguished, world-class century-old coffee brand.
Luckin Coffee Inks Multi-Billion RMB Deal for Brazilian Coffee Bean, Boosting Bilateral Industry Collaboration (Photo: Business Wire)
