Menendez brothers family asks for their release as new evidence emerges – National [Video]

The extended family of Erik and Lyle Menendez descended on a Los Angeles courthouse Wednesday afternoon, holding a press conference to advocate for the brothers’ release from prison as prosecutors review new evidence to determine whether they should be serving life sentences for killing their parents.

“I had no idea the extent of the abuse they suffered at the hands of my brother-in-law. None of us did,” said Joan Andersen VanderMolen, victim Kitty Menendez’s sister. “We know that abuse has long effects, and victims of trauma sometimes act in ways that are very difficult to understand.”

“The whole world was not ready to hear that boys could be raped,” she said, adding “today we know better.”

Erik Menendez, now 53, and his 56-year-old brother, Lyle Menendez, are currently incarcerated in state prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of killing their parents, José and Mary Louise (Kitty) Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion more than 35 years ago.