The family of the Menendez brothers have given an emotional plea asking for the men to be freed.
Around two dozen members of the family, alongside defence lawyer Mark Geragos, held the press conference. They asked that the Los Angeles District attorney George Gascon release Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56.
‘If they were the Menendez sisters they wouldn’t be in custody,’ said Geragos.
‘Lyle and Erik deserve a chance to heal, and our family deserves a chance to heal with them,’ said one of the brothers’ cousins.
Kitty’s sister Joan Andersen VanderMolen said: ‘Their actions, while tragic, were the desperate response of two boys trying to survive the unspeakable cruelty of their father.’
The brothers have spent 35 years in prison after murdering Jose and Kitty Menendez in 1989.
The brothers, then aged 21 and 18, cited years of abuse as the reason for murdering their parents, however, prosecutors argued that their motive was to get their hands on the family fortune.
Their case has been the subject of recent Netflix series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story.
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