Menendez Brothers Sensationally Branded Stone Cold Killers Who Must Stay Locked up By Reporter Who Covered Parent Killers' First Trial
The Menendez brothers could be freed or be given lighter sentences.
Oct. 18 2024, Published 6:50 p.m. ET
Erik and Lyle Menendez have been branded stone cold killers amid their latest appeal for freedom.
RadarOnline.com can reveal a reporter who covered the brothers' murder trial insisted they killed their parents, José and Kitty, in cold blood and deserved to be behind bars for the rest of their lives.
After spending over three decades behind bars, the Menendez brothers recently submitted "new evidence" they argued proved their self-defense claims in hopes of being released.
The Menedez brothers have been behind bars for three decades.
But a journalist who had a front-row seat to the brothers' murder trial slammed their claims as he insisted they remain behind bars.
Alan Abrahamson, now a journalism professor at the University of Southern California, covered the televised trial in 1993 for the Los Angeles Times.
At the brothers' first trial, they were tried separately, resulting in two hung juries.
During their second trial, they were tried together and a jury found them guilty of murdering their parents. The brothers were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The brothers have presented 'new evidence' in hopes of being re-sentenced, including a letter Erik wrote to his cousin mentioning abuse from his father.
Since their conviction, supporters have criticized the judge for not allowing the defense to present alleged evidence of the brother's claims about enduring years of sexual, emotional and physical abuse by their father.
Their family members have additionally come forward and called for their release, citing new evidence as well as accusations from former Menudo boy band member Roy Rosselló, who claimed he was raped by José as a teenager.
But Abrahamson insisted the sexual abuse claims were not enough to overturn the brothers' conviction during an interview with TMZ.
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- Menendez Brothers' Prosecutor Says Erik and Lyle Were NOT Victims 34 Years After Murdering Parents: 'Give Me a Break'
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Journalist Alan Abrahamson called their abuse claims 'irrelevant' because they brothers were not in 'imminent danger' when the murders occurred.
The journalist said: "My take is... uh.. pretty direct and pretty simple, the brothers are stone cold killers and they deserve to be in prison for the rest of their lives.
He explained even if the brothers were being abused by their father, their lives were not in "imminent" danger when they ambushed their parents in their Beverly Hills home, firing multiple fatal gunshots at close range.
Abrahamson added: "The parents were sitting in there in the den watching TV. There was no fear whatsoever."
The Menendez brothers' next court hearing is on November 26.
He additionally claimed criticism against the second trial judge over not allowing evidence pertaining to their abuse claims was misinterpreted.
Abrahamson said: "The abuse evidence was allowed in the second trial.
"Lyle Menendez did not take the stand, but Erik Menendez did testify. But as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal appeals court that reviewed this case in 2005 – and it's a huge mystery to me why almost no one, except for me, seems to pay attention to this ruling – said that abuse evidence – and none of it has ever been corroborated, none of it – that abuse evidence is, to use their word, misplaced.
"Because it doesn't go to whether the brothers were in 'imminent fear for their lives' at the moment they burst into the den, which they were not."
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