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Gascón will request the brothers’ prior sentence of life without the possibility of parole be rescinded and they instead be sentenced for murder. This would make them immediately eligible for parole, he said during a news conference Thursday.
“I came to a place where I believe that under the law resentencing is appropriate, and I am going to recommend that,” Gascón said.
“I believe they have paid their debt to society,” he added.
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 with a pair of shotguns. 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’s obtained new sentences for more than 300 people, including 28 who were convicted of murder. 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 who oppose 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 brothers 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 if 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.”
The case has faced renewed public attention sparked by television series and documentaries that focused on the killings. A Peacock docuseries, “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed,” raised 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 has 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,” Andersen’s attorney, Kathy Cady, said in a statement.
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.”
Gascon’s election challenger, Nathan Hochman, has also 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 Gascon 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.”
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.”
