Menendez Brothers Desperate Bid For Freedom After 30 Years Behind Bars Involves 'Star Witnesses' Who Work Inside Prison
The Menendez brothers are hoping six key witnesses they met in jail will support bid for freedom.
Nov. 14 2024, Published 3:15 p.m. ET
Lyle and Erik Menendez will be supported by six "star witnesses" who work inside prison in their bid for freedom next month.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the killer brothers, who were profiled in Ryan Murphy's hit Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, will be backed up in court by two correctional officers, one education officer, a prison guard, a correctional lieutenant and another employee from the Dept. of Corrections.
All of the witnesses have crossed paths with Lyle and Erik during their three-plus decades behind bars.
Lyle and Erik Menendez's lawyer believes the brothers have been rehabilitated.
The prison staffers will testify the brothers — who have served 33 years behind bars for the 1989 murder of their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez inside their family home — have been rehabilitated and are model prisoners who not only worked on themselves, but helped other inmates improve their lives.
According to TMZ, the witnesses, will highlight a beautification program they helmed for the prison yard at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility outside San Diego, CA.
Lyle and his brother Erik have been behind bars for 35 years after being sentenced to life in prison.
Lyle launched the program, dubbed Green Space, in 2018 and the project includes murals of San Diego landmarks, with Erik serving as the lead painter.
Their vision also calls for outdoor classrooms, training areas for service dogs and meeting spaces for rehab groups.
The Menendez brothers' lawyer, Mark Geragos, has filed legal docs supporting his case, which includes a letter from several dozen relatives of Jose and Kitty Menendez who are campaigning for Erik and Lyle's release.
The brothers - who were just 18 and 21 years old at the time - killed their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989.
TMZ claim the victims' letter features Jose and Kitty's family members saying it would help their healing process to see Lyle, 56, and Erik, 53, freed.
Geragos will ask the judge to change their convictions from murder to manslaughter, which would free them immediately based on maximum time served.
The judge could also resentence them and put their freedom in the hands of the parole board but that could take six months or even longer.
RadarOnline.com revealed last week the brothers are planning to launch their counseling business if they are freed.
Erik Menendez married pet groomer Tammi Saccoman in June 1999.
The pair - who claimed they were abused by their father - have been working behind bars with the victims of sexual trauma.
A source told us: "They want to use the skills they have honed in prison to help others and a counseling business is very much on the cards if they win their freedom. They would be in massive demand given their experiences growing up and their years of incarceration."
Despite being behind bars, both brothers are married. Erik wed pet groomer Tammi Saccoman in June 1999, while Lyle tied the knot with his second wife, journalist Rebecca Sneed, in November 2003 after splitting with his first wife of five years, Anna Eriksson, in 2001.
Lyle Menendez has married twice since being in prison.
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Their lawyer Geragos says he hopes the brothers will be released by the end of the year and believes their futures could include working in some way to help other inmates.
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