Could the allegations of sexual abuse against the Menendez brothers' father by a Menudo member contribute to the siblings' release?

It was a case that shocked the nation.

45-year-old Hollywood executive Jose Menendez and his former wife Kitty, a beauty queen, were found dead in the living room of their Beverly Hills mansion on August 20, 1989.

Jose, head of RCA Records at the time of his murder, was shot multiple times, including at close range in the head, while Kitty, 47, suffered 15 gunshot wounds, including one in the face.

While police initially considered the possibility of a mafia killing, they later arrested the couple's two sons, 21-year-old Lyle and his 18-year-old brother Erik. Greed was suspected as the motive, and the two brothers pointed to the lavish spending spree – which included expensive watches, cars and tennis lessons – that they continued after the murders.

The siblings later claimed in court that they shot their parents in self-defense after Jose had sexually abused them for years. Despite their claims, the brothers were sentenced to life in prison without parole for the premeditated murder of their parents in 1996, three years after their first trial ended inconclusively. Their story is now the subject of the second season of Ryan Murphy's Netflix series Monster: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendezwith Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny.)

However, her allegations of abuse have gained momentum in recent years after Roy Rosselló, a former member of the legendary 1980s boy band Menudo, made allegations of his own against Jose, claiming he had been sexually harassed.

In a 2023 Peacock documentary series Menendez + Menudo: Betrayed BoysRosselló claimed that he was drugged and raped by Jose as a teenager.

His allegations are now part of a petition filed by the Menendez brothers' attorneys in Los Angeles County Superior Court to overturn their convictions.

In the habeas corpus petition filed in May 2023, the lawyers referred to an alleged incident in 1983 when the group's manager, according to the petition, asked Rosselló to “'do a favor' and instructed him to go downstairs to the hotel and accompany Jose Menendez in a limousine.”

According to the petition, Rosselló was allegedly driven to Menendez's house in New Jersey, plied with wine by Jose and then raped. “Roy lost consciousness and woke up in his hotel,” the petition states.

According to the petition, Rosselló was allegedly raped a second time by Menendez in a New York hotel.

The lawyers also cite a recently discovered letter Erik wrote to his cousin Andy Cano describing alleged sexual abuse by his father several months before the murders.

“We say that the second trial was not consistent with constitutional protections for a variety of reasons,” Mark Geragos, the Menendez brothers' post-conviction attorney, previously told PEOPLE. “And a habeas [Corpus petition] has new evidence. It needs new evidence because this case has basically been dead for almost 17 years. And the new evidence was the Menudo accuser and the letter that Andy Cano wrote or received from Erik eight months before the murder.”

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Geragos said the brothers' defense team conducted a conditional interview with Kitty's eldest sister and presented testimony from 24 family members, “all of whom requested a resentencing and presented a range of other documents and evidence for them to review and consider in making their decision.”

The Menendez brothers, who have spent more than 30 years in prison and are both currently in the Donovan State Correctional Facility, are “cautiously optimistic” that the motion will succeed, Geragos said.

Legal experts, however, believe that the brothers' chances of having their case retried are slim.

“I don't know how much of an impact this new evidence has,” Los Angeles defense attorney and former Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Dmitry Gorin previously told PEOPLE. “It's still very unlikely because of the history of the case, because of the verdicts from previous trials and because this doesn't really materially change the evidence in the case. It's more of the same. It's terrible evidence. It's tragic that it was mishandled, but it's more of the same.”

Criminal defense attorney Neama Rahmani from Los Angeles also considers it “highly unlikely” that the brothers are at large.

“That's a Hail Mary type argument,” he said. “That's not enough, in my opinion. A corroborating note or the fact that a victim abused someone else is not the kind of evidence that normally leads to a habeas corpus petition being granted.”