“Decades Later, Menendez Family Champions Convicted Killers: ‘A Tragic Story of Parental Betrayal’ Revealed in Shocking Press Conference”

Karen said: “I forgive my cousins. I have forgiven them forever, because I know they were acting out of fear and desperation.

“These were children. Children, just six and eight years old, who didn’t understand their own bodies.”

She added: “They spent most of their lives in prison, paying for their actions. During that time, they have become supporters and advocates for children who have suffered sexual violence.

“I believe they have suffered enough. I ask the district attorneys to take into account the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”

Brian fiercely defended the brothers, saying: “I think about the pain and suffering they endured it breaks my heart to know that the system failed them so profoundly.

“They tried to protect themselves. The only way they knew how.”

Brian also noted that the brothers are “not the same people they were 35 years ago and have “shown that they are more than their past.”

He continued: “They are survivors they deserve a chance to rebuild their lives. There are no longer being threat to society.”

Joan said that “Lyle and Erik were failed by the very people who should have protected them — their parents, the system, and society at large.”

She said that after details of Lyle and Erik’s abuse came to light, it was clear the boys were simply trying to survive their father’s cruelty and needed to defend themselves.

Erik wrote: “I’ve been trying to avoid dad. It’s still happening Andy but it’s worse for me now. I never know when it’s going to happen and it’s driving me crazy. Every night I stay up thinking he might come in.

“I need to put it out of my mind. I know what you said before but I’m afraid. You just don’t know Dad like I do. He’s crazy!”

While Cano testified that Erik spoke about his father’s abuse when he was 13, prosecutors managed to keep his testimony from being heard at the brothers’ retrial.

The famous brothers were convicted of murdering their parents in 1996 after their first trial was declared a mistrial.