Former Menudo band member alleges he was raped by Menendez brothers’ slain father
A former member of the boy band Menudo alleges in a new documentary series that the slain father of the Menendez brothers raped him when he was a child.
Roy Rosselló’s allegation comes 27 years after siblings Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted of first-degree murder in the 1989 slayings of their parents, Jose Enrique Menendez and Mary Louise “Kitty†Menendez, and sentenced to life in prison.
The brothers alleged during their trial that they had been sexually, physically and emotionally abused since they were young children and said they acted out of fear and hatred when they shot their parents to death in their Beverly Hills mansion. Defense attorneys said the siblings feared their parents would kill them after they threatened to expose the alleged abuse.
In an apparent repudiation of the abuse defense, a jury on Wednesday convicted Erik and Lyle Menendez of first-degree murder for the 1989 slayings of their parents, setting the stage for dramatic weeks of testimony as the brothers fight to escape the death penalty.
In a Tuesday report about the upcoming Peacock docuseries “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed,†NBC’s “Today†show noted that during the trial — which captured the nation’s attention in the mid-1990s — a judge deemed all testimony of sexual abuse irrelevant and inadmissible.
It remains unclear why Rosselló’s accusations have not surfaced until now and whether authorities will investigate them.
During the trial, prosecutors rebutted the brothers’ claims of abuse, alleging they wanted their parents’ millions, hated their father and included their mother as a victim because she would have been a witness.
In closing arguments, one prosecutor described Jose Menendez as an absentee father who pushed his sons to achieve, not a man who was abusing them.
The jury believed the prosecution, and the Menendez brothers are serving life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole.
Time will tell whether Rosselló’s new allegations of sexual assault against Jose Menendez could help the brothers’ case nearly three decades later.
“I always hoped and believed that one day the truth about my dad would come out,†Erik Menendez says in a clip from the series that aired on “Today.†“But I never wished for it to come out like this: the result of trauma that another child has suffered.â€
“We’d heard rumors that something might have happened with Menudo through the years,†Lyle Menendez says in the clip. “You know that that would have made a difference at trial.â€
Two Beverly Hills brothers accused in the shotgun deaths of their parents pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of murder and conspiracy.
According to “Today,†Rosselló alleges in the docuseries that Jose Menendez molested, drugged and raped him when the then-teenager was performing with the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo and Jose Menendez was the head of RCA Records. The 51-year-old was a member of the ever-changing group from 1983 to 1986.
“That’s the man here that raped me,†Rosselló says in the clip while pointing at a photo of the late music executive. “That’s the pedophile.â€
“It’s time for the world to know the truth,†he adds.
Though Rosselló’s revelation is a “glimmer of hope†for the Menendez brothers, criminal defense attorney Alan Jackson told “Today†that leveraging the allegation to lobby for their exoneration and freedom would be a complex process involving a petition and another trial.
Directed by Esther Reyes, “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed†begins streaming May 2 on Peacock.
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