Family of Menendez brothers seek their release from California prison

By Brad Brooks

(Reuters) -Relatives of Lyle and Erik Menendez, brothers imprisoned for life for killing their parents more than three decades ago, said on Wednesday they were meeting with prosecutors to request the men be freed.

Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon said earlier this month that his office was reviewing new evidence that could lead to the release or a new trial of the brothers, who have long said they killed their parents at their Beverly Hills home because of sexual abuse they endured at their hands.

"I implore the district attorney's office to end our prolonged suffering and release Lyle and Erik back to our family," said Terry Baralt, the 85-year-old sister of the brothers' murdered father, Jose Menendez, in a statement read by her daughter, Anamaria Baralt, at a Wednesday press conference.

The brothers are serving life in prison without parole for the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents.

About 20 family members were at the press conference, and said they were then heading to the district attorney's office to make clear to prosecutors their wish that the brothers be released or given a new trial.

Anamaria Baralt and other family members said they believe the brothers were the victims of sexual abuse, and that the justice system now has a better understanding of how such abuse could drive people to commit violent crimes. They said that if the brothers' trial were held today, they think the two would have received lighter sentences.

Gascon's office said in a Wednesday statement that it had heard the "heartfelt pleas" of the Menendez family and that it was "exploring every avenue available to our office to ensure justice is served."

Gascon said this month that what he called new evidence included a letter that Erik Menendez allegedly wrote eight months before the murders in which he described abuse.

Investigators also are examining allegations from a member of the 1980s pop band Menudo that he was abused by Jose Menendez, who was a music executive. Those allegations were publicized last year in Peacock documentary series called "Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed."

At a televised trial in 1996, the brothers said they had been sexually abused by both parents. Prosecutors argued the pair were seeking their parents' multi-million-dollar fortune.

(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Colorado; editing by Donna Bryson and Leslie Adler)