Menendez Brothers' Uncle Thinks They Should Stay in Prison, Says Killings Were Motivated by 'Greed'

Not every Menendez family member is supporting the brothers’ bid for release from prison.

Kitty Menendez’s 90-year-old brother Milton Andersen thinks his nephews Lyle, 56, and Erik, 53, deserve to stay behind bars for the rest of their lives, his lawyer Kathy Cady tells PEOPLE.

“He believes that the correct verdict was rendered by the jury and the correct sentence was issued by the judge,” Cady says. “He thinks they should remain in prison for what they did to their parents.”

Cady adds that “the evidence that came out at the trial was much more aligned with that the murder was committed because of greed.”

“They had just found out their father was going to take them out of the will, and it was only after that they came up with the idea to murder their parents,” she says. “They didn't want to lose the millions of dollars that they hoped to get from their parents through an inheritance.”

Cady says the killings “certainly caused a rift in the family. And so anything that has occurred is directly related to what Erik and Lyle Menendez did back in August of 1989.”

 On Wednesday, Oct. 16, more than 20 members of the Menendez family held a press conference in front of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Downtown Los Angeles. At the press conference, numerous family members, including Andersen’s sister Joan Andersen VanderMolen, cited the sex abuse the brothers have claimed they endured at the hands of their father, Jose, and described them as victims, not murderers.

 “For many years, I struggled to come to terms with what happened to my sister’s family," VanderMolen said at the press conference. "It was a nightmare none of us could have imagined. But as the details of Lyle and Erik’s abuse came to light, it became clear that their actions, while tragic, were the desperate response of two boys trying to survive the unspeakable cruelty of their father. "They have already paid a heavy price. After 35 years, it’s time to give them the opportunity to live the rest of their lives free from the shadow of their past.”

Cady says Andersen doesn't believe the brothers were sexually abused.

 "Mr. Andersen believes that it did not occur," she says.

Since May of 2023, LA District Attorney George Gascón’s office has been reviewing a Habeas Corpus petition that attorneys for the brothers filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, citing new evidence in the case.

The new evidence included sexual abuse allegations by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, against Jose, whom he claims raped him in the 1980s, as well as a newly discovered letter Erik wrote to his now-deceased cousin Andy Cano describing his father’s alleged sexual abuse months before the murders.

Gascón previously addressed the petition at a press conference on Thursday, Oct. 3, saying that his office was "keeping an open" mind about the Menendez brothers' bid for release.

Acknowledging that the brothers “were clearly the murderers,” Gascón, who is up for reelection in November, said his office had “a moral and an ethical obligation to review what is being presented to us” and to determine if such evidence could have swayed jurors away from first-degree murder convictions. 

Cady says Andersen was caught off guard by Gascón’s press conference.

“[Andersen] had been kept up to date with what was going on by the assigned prosecutor until Mr. Gascón came in and took it away, and then essentially held a press conference with no notice to Mr. Andersen,” she says. “And victim's family members should never have to find out what's going on in a case of their loved one who was murdered by turning on the TV. It shows a complete lack of respect.

NBC4 reported that Gascón said he was hoping to make a decision about the petition "within the next 10 days or so."

However, it will be up to a judge to decide if Lyle and Erik will remain in prison, be granted a new trial, or have their sentenced reduced.

A court hearing is scheduled for Nov. 26.

Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 when they fatally shot their parents using 12-gauge shotguns in the den of their Beverly Hills, Calif., home on Aug. 20, 1989.

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Jose, 45, was hit multiple times, including point blank in the head. Kitty, 47, was shot multiple times, including once in the face.

The killings, according to the brothers, came after years of sexual abuse by Jose — abuse which they claimed was ignored by their mom, a former pageant queen.

However, prosecutors at the time said the two brothers’ motive was greed and cited their lavish spending spree after the slayings.

In 1996, three years after their first trial ended in a deadlock, the siblings were convicted of the first-degree murders and subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.