Could Evidence Discovered by Journalist Robert Rand Get the Menendez Brothers a New Trial?

In August 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez walked into their Beverly Hills mansion and shot their parents to death. The brothers were 18 and 21 respectively, and would later claim this was an act of self-defense. From the time it happened until their convictions in 1996, their faces were plastered all over newspapers and gossip magazines across the United States. People couldn't get enough of a story that centered on rich boys who turned bad.

Their trial would become legendary for multiple reasons. It helped put Court TV on the map and introduced a cast of characters that included a questionable therapist and an over-the-top defense attorney. Leslie Abramson's defense was built around Erik and Lyle's claims that their father sexually abused them. Although she couldn't get the jury on board with their allegations, new evidence could change things. Are the Menendez brothers getting a new trial? Details to follow.

Investigative journalist Robert Rand is the best person to go to when it comes to the Menendez brothers. He covered the trial for the Miami Herald and has since devoted much of his career to their story, which you can read about in his book The Menendez Murders. As an ardent supporter and friend, Rand believes Erik and Lyle Menendez are telling the truth about their father's sexual abuse.

In a September 2024 interview with Newsweek, Rand discussed the piece of evidence that could lead to a new trial. It all started with the Menendez brothers' cousin Andy Cano, who testified in their trials. During his testimony, Cano shared that when he was 10 years old, a 12-year-old Erik told him about Jose's alleged sexual abuse. Cano would later say the stress of keeping the secret, along with testifying about it, traumatized him. In 2003, he died from an accidental overdose.

At some point, Rand was contacted by Cano's mother Marta because she was cleaning out out an old dresser that belonged to her son. Marta asked the reporter if he had any interest in some papers she found, which is where Rand discovered a letter Erik wrote to his cousin nine months before the murders. He immediately brought it to Cliff Gardner, one of their appellate attorneys.

In the letter, a then-17-year-old Erik brings up the alleged sexual abuse and the fear he was experiencing. "I've been trying to avoid dad," he wrote. "It's still happening Andy, but it's worse for me now." He goes on to say that he "stays up thinking he [Jose] might come in." Rand says this is the one thing that could lead to an appeal. "The best outcome of that appeal would be that the Menendez brothers could be granted a new trial," he explained.

In a phone conversation from prison, Lyle told CBS News reporter Natalie Morales that he was happy about the new evidence because "it's a burden to be telling what happened to you and just have so much doubt in the public air." He said it was never a question of whether or not he and Erik killed their parents, but rather why they did it. He told Morales that they never came forward about the alleged abuse out of shame.

Authorities maintain the nature of the crime doesn't support the self-defense claim, as they are looking at the murders in terms of what was happening that night. Both Jose and Kitty Menendez were watching television and were unarmed when their sons shot and killed them. Lyle insists he and his brother were in "fight or flight" mode to a degree. "It was panic."