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topicnews · October 25, 2024

Prosecutor recommends Menendez brothers be resentenced for 1989 murders

Prosecutor recommends Menendez brothers be resentenced for 1989 murders

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Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón announced Thursday that he is recommending the resentencing of Erik and Lyle Menendez, the brothers serving life sentences without parole for the murders of their parents, in a case that first occurred 35 years ago caught the nation’s attention.

Gascón told reporters he would submit his recommendation to the court on Friday, urging that the possibility of parole be brought back to the table. The penalty for two murders is 50 years to life in prison, but because the brothers were under 26 at the time of the crime, Gascón said they would be immediately eligible for parole under California law.

“I believe they have paid their debt to society,” he said.

Gascón reviewed new evidence in the case and met with family members who argued for the brothers’ release. Relatives say the new evidence proves the abuse the brothers suffered at the hands of their father, wealthy music executive Jose Menendez.

A jury found the brothers guilty of killing Jose and Kitty Menendez in 1996 after their widely watched and televised first trial ended in a mistrial.

Erik Menendez was 18 and Lyle was 21 at the time of the murders in 1989. Their lawyers argued they acted in self-defense and were sexually abused by both parents. The brothers had confronted their parents and believed that they would kill them to prevent them from making the abuse public, the defense lawyers argued.

At the time, prosecutors dismissed the abuse allegations as untrue and said the brothers were targeting their parents’ fortune, then valued at about $15 million. A spending spree by the brothers between the murders and their arrest helped fuel public skepticism about their plight.

The brothers’ lawyers and the coalition of family members said the judge overseeing the second trial excluded key evidence of the abuse the Menendez brothers suffered.

Thursday’s decision came after heated internal debates in the prosecutor’s office, Gascón said. Some called for the brothers’ immediate release, while others urged that they remain in prison for life.

“I must tell you unequivocally that we do not have a general agreement,” Gascón told reporters, adding that some people from his office may appear in court to oppose the decision.

The brothers committed “horrible acts,” Gascón said, adding that he also believes they were “subjected to a tremendous amount of domestic disruption and harassment.”

The conditions for a resentencing recommendation focus on whether the person has been rehabilitated and can be safely released into the community, Gascón said. He added that the Menendez brothers worked to advance themselves while supporting others in prison, despite having no hope of being released for years.

More than 300 people have been re-convicted since he took office, Gascón said, including 28 murder cases. Four people had relapsed, he said.

Earlier this week, Gascón announced that an exoneration and release hearing for two other convicted murderers, Charlotte Pleytez and Lombardo Palacios, will be held on November 1. Both served more than 17 years in prison for a 2007 murder in East Hollywood. The office’s Conviction Integrity Unit concluded they had not committed themselves.

“We must continually reevaluate questionable prior convictions in the interest of justice,” Gascón said in a statement announcing the hearing. “This recognizes that the system has failed at times, and when it does happen, the consequences are life-changing.”

Push for release: Family makes fervent plea amid new evidence

There was considerable interest in the Menendez case long after the conviction. The case then gained new attention amid several new documentaries and excitement over the new evidence, including a letter Erik Menendez allegedly wrote to his cousin Andy Cano several months before the murders. Excerpts were included in the 2023 petition filed by the brothers’ lawyers.

“I tried to avoid dad. It still happens, Andy, but now it’s worse for me,” one excerpt reads. “I never know when it’s going to happen and it drives me crazy. Every night I stay awake thinking he might come in.”

Later the letter says: “I know what you said before, but I’m scared. You just don’t know Dad as well as I do. He’s crazy! He warned me a hundred times not to tell anyone.”

Investigators are also looking into allegations by a member of the 1980s pop band Menudo that he was mistreated by Jose Menendez.

These allegations were made public last year in the Peacock documentary series Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.

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