Menendez brothers score crucial legal victory in decades-long fight as they await potential freedom

As infamous killer brothers Erik and Lyle Mendendez wait for their August parole hearing they have scored a legal achievement on another front this time in the form of new evidence they say could have led to their acquittal The pair who admitted to killing their parents Mary Kitty and Jose Menendez in a bloody shotgun massacre inside their Beverly Hills home claimed for years that their actions were self-defense stemming from a lifetime of physical and sexual abuse A July court order obtained by Fox News Digital will force the state to explain why evidence to that effect was barred from their trial MENENDEZ BROTHERS RESENTENCING TIMELINE OF KILLERS FIGHT OVER FREEDOM IN PARENTS MURDERSAbout eight months before the double-homicide Erik allegedly wrote a letter to his cousin Andy Cano claiming that Jose had sexually abused him and Lyle Further an affidavit from Roy Rossello a member of a boy band called Menudo claimed Jose a record executive raped him when he was a -year-old boy in or Rossello made the claim almost years after the alleged rape In March the brothers filed a habeas petition claiming that if they had been allowed to use the Cano letter as evidence and if Rossello's claim had been made before and presented at their second trial a jury would not have convicted them MENENDEZ BROTHERS RESENTENCED AS EXPERTS BLAST 'INDEFENSIBLE' BID FOR KILLERS' FREEDOMIn an informal response to that petition filed by Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman's office in February of this year prosecutors denied that the letter and the affidavit constituted new evidence They stated that the Cano letter was untimely They also declared the Rossello affidavit was inadmissible immaterial and lacks credibility But the July order handed down by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William C Ryan reported that the letter and the affidavit constitute a prima facie showing that the brothers are entitled to habeas relief The district attorney's office is now subject to a show cause response in the next days In their response Hochman's office must explain why the brothers' habeas relief should not be granted The brothers sought a new trial in but have since shifted their focus to their own resentencing which they were granted in May Judge Michael Jesic resentenced the brothers to years to life with the possibility of parole They were previously serving life without parole Since the brothers have been eagerly awaiting that parole hearing After it was initially scheduled for June it was postponed until August and They have spent years behind bars READ THE FULL ORDER BELOW