The DA says the Menendez brothers should be released: He just recommended resentencing
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon announced that he is seeking a retrial for the Menendez brothers, who murdered their parents with a shotgun in 1989. This would begin a trial process that would give them a new chance at freedom.
Today, at a press conference in LAThe DA said that after careful consideration, he believes that Erik And Lyle Menendez should be sentenced to life in prison with possibility of parole.
“I believe they have paid their debt to society,” Gascón said. He added that survivors of sexual assault are often treated greatly unfairly, and he introduced members of Erik and Lyle’s extended families, who were in attendance.
He made it clear that he did not condone murder: “Even if you were abused, the right path is to call the police, seek help,” he said. But he said he took into account the brothers’ ages at the time of the murder, and the fact that, even without hope of parole, they were still on “a journey of redemption and a recovery journey”. Gascón said that some in the DA’s office still believe the brothers should spend the rest of their lives in prison and could go to trial to argue against resentencing.
If Judge William C. Ryan, The person presiding over the case agreed with the prosecutor’s proposal, and the two brothers will appear before the parole board.
Gascón is up for re-election on November 5 Nathan Hochman, who leads him in the polls. Hochman called the timing of Gascón’s interest in the case “extremely suspicious.” But Michael Romano, director of the Three Strikes Project at Stanford Law School, which works to free people serving life sentences for nonviolent crimes, said he suspected that politics influenced his decision. SKIN. “I know George quite well,” he said. “I absolutely think he is [made this announcement] because he thought it was the right thing to do. I mean, regardless of any new evidence, sentencing 19- and 21-year-olds to life in prison without parole is very, very harsh and something that Gascón probably opposes across the board.”
If Hochman wins the election, as expected, it is unknown what his position will be, but he is running on a tough-on-crime platform and his website criticizes Gascón for “ the ‘abandonment’ of victims in favor of lenient policies towards offenders .”
The brothers’ extended family has the right to attend the sentencing hearing under Marsy’s Law. That group may include Kitty Menendez’s brother, Milton Andersen, those who did not support their release. “Mr. Andersen firmly believes that his grandson was not sexually abused,” his attorney said. Kathy Cady, said in a statement last week. “He believes it was a fabrication and he believes the motive was pure greed.”
Kitty’s older sister, Joan VanderMolen, disagrees and has supported her nephews since their arrest. “As 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 in the face of cruelty of their father,” she said, adding, “Looking back, I see the fear and tension that their father instilled in them. They were just children—children who could have been protected but instead were brutalized in the most horrifying ways.”
The infamous Menendez case captivated the world in the early ’90s, when the brothers’ first trial—which resulted in a hung jury—aired on Court TV. The prosecution argued that Erik and Lyle killed their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, for an inheritance estimated at $14 million. The defense claimed that Jose had harassed them and that they feared for their lives. The wealthy Beverly Hills family’s flashy lifestyle and graphic testimony became a real criminal phenomenon, and the brothers were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without disability. possibility of amnesty in the second trial.
The incident became the focus of attention again when Netflix’s hit series, Monsters: The Menendez Brothers, by the host Ryan Murphy, was released in September, followed by a new documentary from the director Alejandro Hartmann. Gascón said in a news conference earlier this month that his office was fielding calls regarding the brothers’ release, while Erik and Lyle’s attorney, Mark Geragos, says the social media campaigns to liberate them have been an unexpected boon: “It’s the craziest phenomenon I’ve ever seen. It’s happening at breakneck speed, mainly because it’s younger, more vibrant and, I would argue, evolved. [generation].” Eager to maintain the momentum, the brothers’ extended family held a news conference last week to express their continued support for their release.
Romano said the new evidence that Geragos dispatched the district attorney’s office in May 2023 is compelling. A letter that Erik purportedly wrote to his late cousin, Andy Cano, eight months before the murder was discovered in his personal belongings, in which Erik wrote, “It’s still going on.” out Andy [sic] but now it’s even worse for me… Every night I lie awake thinking [my father] can come in.” And, in another potential piece of evidence, Roy Rossello, a former member of the boy band Menudo, alleged that Jose drugged and raped him when he was 13 or 14 years old.
According to Romano, parole board hearings can take time. “Even though they may be eligible immediately, there is still a long waiting list,” he said. The brothers have been behind bars for more than three decades.
This story has been updated.
