Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón will ask a judge to resentence Erik and Lyle Menendez, two brothers serving life terms for killing their parents, a move that could pave the way for their release.
Gascón will request the brothers’ prior sentence of life without the possibility of parole be rescinded and that they instead be sentenced to 50 years to life, a move that could make them eligible for parole as youthful offenders because they committed the crime when they were younger than 26.
“I came to a place where I believe that under the law resentencing is appropriate, and I am going to recommend that,” Gascón said.
The two brothers were convicted of murder with special circumstances, a charge that is punishable only by life without parole or the death penalty. On Thursday, Gascón said he would ask the court to resentence the brothers to a murder charge, which leaves open the possibility of parole.
“I believe they have paid their debt to society,” he said.
The brothers were sentenced to life without parole after a jury found them guilty of killing their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home. The 1989 killings, and the televised trial that followed, has sparked documentaries, movies and television series that have made the brothers two of the most publicly recognizable convicts.
The brothers have pursued appeals for years without success, but now they could have a path to freedom.
In 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez bought a pair of shotguns with cash, walked into their Beverly Hills home and shot their parents while they watched a movie in the family living room. Prosecutors said Jose Menendez was struck five times, including in the back of the head, and Kitty Menendez crawled on the floor wounded before the brothers reloaded and fired a final, fatal blast.
Prosecutors would argue the slayings were driven by greed and the brothers’ desire to get their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate.
But during the trials, Erik and Lyle Menendez detailed what they said were years of violent sexual abuse at the hands of their father.
Earlier this month, more than 20 relatives of the brothers pleaded at a news conference for them to be released. More than a dozen family members were also present as Gascón announced his decision Thursday.
“We know this wasn’t the easy decision, but it’s the right one,” said Joan VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister. “This is about truth, justice and healing.”
During Gascón’s tenure as top prosecutor, he says he has obtained new sentences for more than 300 people, including 28 who were convicted of murder. Only four of those 300 defendants have re-offended, he said. If approved by a judge, the Menendez brothers would be the highest-profile convicts to see their sentences reduced at the district attorney’s request.
It’s a decision that has already proved to be controversial and has prompted division even within the district attorney’s office.
Gascón noted there would be members of his office opposed to resentencing in attendance at a future court hearing on the case.
“We have people in the office that strongly believe the Menendez brothers should stay in prison the rest of their lives and don’t believe they were molested,” he said.
Attorneys for the pair last year filed a habeas motion, arguing that new evidence backed their claim that they were sexually abused by their father for years before the slayings.
The filing included a letter Erik Menendez sent to his cousin in December 1988 — eight months before the killings — that appeared to corroborate the claims of abuse. It also included a declaration from Roy Rosselló, a member of the boy band Menudo, who alleged that Jose Menendez raped him in 1984 when he was 13 or 14 years old.
Gascón’s office has been reviewing the motion and the case for more than a year. The decision, he said, was made final Thursday afternoon.
There is no question that the brothers killed their parents, but Gascón has said the issue is whether the jury heard evidence that their father molested them, and whether that evidence might have affected the outcome of the trial.
Evidence of sexual abuse, including testimony from friends and relatives of the family, was included when the siblings were first tried, which ended in hung juries.
But when they were tried again, together, the jury did not hear much of the testimony supporting their allegations of sexual abuse. The two were convicted of first-degree murder in March 1996.
The brothers’ work leading rehabilitation programs while in prison also factored into the decision to make them eligible for parole, Gascón said.
The two have been engaged for years in prison programs to help inmates deal with trauma and assist those who have physical disabilities. Both have earned college degrees.
“I will never imply that what we’re doing here is to excuse their behavior. … If you get abused, the right path is to call the police,” Gascón said. “Even though they didn’t think they would ever be let free, they engaged in a different journey — a journey of redemption and a journey of rehabilitation.”
Attorneys representing the brothers called the announcement a win for their clients, and for the family calling for their release from prison.
Flanked by the brothers’ relatives during a news conference in the bar below his law offices, attorney Mark Geragos scoffed at the idea that Gascón had made a politically timed decision. He said his team and prosecutors had been in conversation for months, including arranging interviews with family members.
“Today is a monumental, a monumental victory on that path,” Geragos said. “If there is a hearing, all of these family members who are behind me will be heard. All of these family members will uniformly ask one thing, which is, ‘Bring them home.’”
If the recommendation is approved by a judge, the brothers’ fate would still rest with the parole board, which will decide whether to release them. Gov. Gavin Newsom could also veto the parole board’s decision. Despite those potential hurdles, their attorneys were elated to at least have a path forward.
“A straight life sentence with the ability to go to the parole board is a lot better than a life sentence without parole,” said Cliff Gardner, another attorney representing Erik and Lyle Menendez.
Public attention on the case ramped up with recent television series and documentaries focused on the killings. A Peacock docuseries, “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed,” raised the allegations that Jose Menendez, an RCA Records executive, had sexually assaulted Rosselló.
Gascón’s decision has been criticized by those who say the move is a political ploy to bolster his reelection campaign.
Kitty Menendez’s 90-year-old brother, Milton Andersen, criticized the decision to seek new sentences for the brothers. He said Gascón had refused to meet with him to discuss his decision before announcing it to the media.
“Mr. Andersen has been left in the dark, forced to learn crucial updates about his sister’s case through the media, rather than being treated with the dignity and respect he deserves,” said Andersen’s attorney, Kathy Cady, herself a political enemy of Gascón who helped spearhead two failed attempts to recall him from office.
Cady filed an application for an amicus curiae brief this week to oppose the resentencing. She said in a statement that the district attorney was attempting to “manipulate the facts for a fleeting chance to salvage his political career.”
Gascón’s election challenger, Nathan Hochman, also has questioned the timing of the D.A.’s action in the case, suggesting he’s making headlines to try to save his flagging reelection bid. Polls show Gascón trailing Hochman by as much as 30 percentage points, and a Times analysis of campaign finances shows the challenger has raised significantly more money than the district attorney.
Gascón pushed back against claims the decision was politically motivated.
“There’s nothing political about this. We have resentenced over 300 people,” he said. “We will continue to resentence people.”
Geragos noted that the petition by the brothers was filed last year, long before Hochman surged in the November contest.
“Before there was ever any talk of an election, before there was ever any talk of [Gascón] being down in the polls, this D.A. had taken seriously our writ of habeas corpus,” he said.
Surrounded by more than half a dozen of the brothers’ cousins — many of whom followed up Geragos with shouts of, “Enough is enough” and “Bring them home” — the lawyer said each relative planned to testify on Erik and Lyle Menendez’s behalf if there was a hearing.
Geragos also suggested a judge could go beyond Gascón’s recommendation and resentence the brothers to manslaughter, which would allow them to sidestep the parole board and be freed immediately.
“If you’re going to talk about victims’ rights, these are the victims right here,” he said gesturing to the family seated behind him.
Dmitry Gorin, a criminal defense attorney, said the evidence was clear in the initial trial that the killings were premeditated, but the case seemed to have a chance to be revisited given the liberal policies of the district attorney’s office under Gascón.
A judge is likely to approve the prosecutor’s request, given that it’s also supported by the brothers’ defense attorneys.
“I give the defense credit for timely filing,” Gorin said. “If this was filed in December with likely a new D.A., they aren’t getting out. Most of the [district attorneys] in California wouldn’t let them out.”
First appeared on www.latimes.com