Erik and Lyle Menendez, the brothers who shot and killed their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion, are asking the courts to vacate their 1996 convictions based on new evidence.
filed court papers Wednesday that contend newly surfaced evidence warrants a reopening of the case. They are currently serving life in prison.
Prosecutors argued the killings were financially motivated and pointed to lavish spending sprees by the brothers after the fact, saying they were guilty of first-degree murder.The brothers' first trial ended with jurors unable to reach verdicts, deadlocking between first-degree murder and lesser charges including manslaughter.
The court document includes a copy of the handwritten letter sent to Erik Menendez's cousin, Andy Cano. Attorneys contend the letter was recently discovered by Cano's mother. Cano, who died of a drug overdose in 2003, testified in the brothers' first trial that Erik Menendez had told him about the molestation by his father when Erik was 13 years old, according to the court documents.
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