L.A. County district attorney shares evidence in Menendez brothers case as he mulls their sentence
CTV
The Los Angeles district attorney has released new evidence in the Lyle and Erik Menendez case that could potentially lead to a review of their life sentences for murder.
The Los Angeles district attorney has released new evidence in the Lyle and Erik Menendez case that could potentially lead to a review of their life sentences for murder.
After their first widely publicized trial ended in a mistrial, a jury convicted the Menendez brothers of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty, following a second trial in 1996.
While they never denied killing their parents, the brothers claimed they acted in self-defence and were lifelong victims of sexual abuse by their father. During the second trial, prosecutors argued the “abuse didn’t happen” and the judge overseeing the case did not allow much of the defence’s evidence of abuse to be presented, according to the brothers’ attorneys.
In July 1996, both men were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Now, more than 35 years after the murders, LA District Attorney George Gascón has publicly posted a screenshot of a letter the brothers’ attorneys have argued corroborates Erik’s allegations he was sexually abused by his father.
On Sunday, Gascón shared an image of the handwritten, undated letter in a post on his social media platforms. The letter was written by Erik Menendez and alludes to the abuse. As of Tuesday, the post was no longer up on Gascón’s Instagram page.
“I’ve been trying to avoid dad. Its still happening Andy but its worse for me now,” the letter states. “I never know when its going to happen and its driving me crazy. Every night I stay up thinking he might come in.”
Pope Leo XIV on Thursday summoned Catholic bishops to Rome for a special meeting on ministering to families that takes as its starting point Leo’s strong endorsement of one of Pope Francis’ most controversial policies on marriage and divorce.
Shaquille O’Neal is offering to pay for the funeral of a 12-year-old Georgia girl who died a few days after she collapsed following a fight after school.
Both parties on Capitol Hill remain unmoved in their fight over U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, threatening to drag out the U.S. Department of Homeland Security shutdown for days – if not weeks – more.
Closing arguments are set to kick off Tuesday in a trial pitting Elon Musk against Twitter shareholders who say the world’s richest man engaged in a pattern of deceptive behavior that misled investors as he attempted to back out of his US$44-billion deal to buy the social media platform in 2022.
A Utah woman who wrote a children’s book about coping with grief after her husband’s death was convicted of aggravated murder in his death by poisoning him with fentanyl.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly taken aim at Democratic rival and possible 2028 presidential candidate Gavin Newsom. But lately, he’s become fixated on saying the California governor cannot be president due to his “learning disability.”
More than 10,000 U.S. flights were delayed or cancelled Monday amid a series of storms affecting several major airports along the East Coast and some other locales.
The man who attacked a Michigan synagogue was the brother of a Hezbollah commander killed earlier this month in an Israeli airstrike, Israel’s military claimed Sunday.
Taiwan saw a surge of Chinese military planes near the island, its defence ministry said Sunday, after a sharp drop in flights over the past two weeks had sparked discussions among observers.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, accompanied by his teenage daughter, observed a live-fire test of multiple rocket launch systems, state media reported Sunday, a likely response to ongoing U.S.-South Korean military training that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal.
North Korea on Saturday fired about 10 ballistic missiles toward the eastern sea, South Korea’s military said, staging its own show of force as the rival South conducts a joint military exercise with the United States.
A Georgia prosecutor has dropped the charges against a teenager who police say was driving the truck that struck and killed a beloved high school teacher when a prank turned deadly, the teen’s lawyer said. The victim’s family had asked authorities to drop the charges.
Investigators worked Friday to determine the exact reason a man with a rifle crashed into a large Michigan synagogue in what federal officials are saying was an attack carried out by a 41-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen born in Lebanon.