LA DA shares explosive memo written by Erik Menendez that could support allegations his father sexually abused his brothers

The Los Angeles District Attorney has released a letter he cited as “new evidence” in the infamous Erik and Lyle Menendez case – as he considers whether to review the brothers’ life sentences for the murder of their parents.

Prosecutor George Gascón on Sunday released – but later deleted – a screenshot of the letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin more than three decades ago, alleging he was abused by his father, a reported CNN.

“I tried to avoid Dad. This still happens, Andy, but it’s worse for me now,” the handwritten letter reads. “I never know when it’s going to happen and it drives me crazy. Every night I stay up thinking he might come in.

The brothers’ legal team has long argued that the letter — which was filed last year in Los Angeles Superior Court as part of a motion to review their case — supports Erik’s claims that he was sexually abused by his father when he was a child.

The district attorney’s office deleted the post Tuesday as it emerged that relatives of the Menendez brothers had been invited to a news conference scheduled for Wednesday.

The extended family hopes the prosecutor will use the news conference to finally recommend that Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, be sentenced after spending more than three decades behind bars for the murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, at their Beverly Hills mansion. in 1989.

This potential update comes weeks after Gascón first announced that his office was reviewing new evidence of alleged assaults in the case to determine whether the brothers should continue serving life sentences without parole.

The letter, addressed to the brothers’ cousin, Andy Cano, was written in December 1988, months before the murders.

This was never presented as evidence at their trial.

The brothers’ attorneys argued in the motion that if this had been shown in court, jurors might have reached a different verdict.

The siblings have long claimed they killed their parents in self-defense after enduring a lifetime of physical, emotional and sexual abuse at their hands.

Prosecutors, however, argued at the time that there was no evidence of sexual assault — and claimed the sons were after their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate.

The brothers were ultimately convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole.