The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office will recommend the resentencing of Lyle and Erik Menendez due to new evidence and a determination that the brothers are no threat to society, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced Thursday.
"I believe under the law, resentencing is appropriate," said Gascón, adding he will make the recommendation to a court Friday.
The Menendez brothers will not be present during the court hearing Friday, according to Gascón.
If a judge agrees with the district attorney’s office, since the Menendez brothers were under age 26 when they murdered their parents, Jose and Kitty, at their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989, they would be eligible for parole immediately.
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"I believe they have paid their debt to society," Gascón said, underlining the brothers' claims that they were sexually abused by their father and comparing Lyle and Erik to women in abusive relationship.
"I understand how sometimes people get desperate. We often see women, for instance, that have been battered for years, and sometimes they murder their abuser out of desperation," the district attorney said. "I do believe that the brother was subjected to a tremendous amount of dysfunction in the home.
Gascón also said the convicted brothers engaged in "the journey of redemption and rehabilitation," leading prison groups for inmates who suffer from untreated trauma and physical disabilities.
Why is it happening?
Gascón said new pieces of evidence his office received supported the brothers’ claim that their biological father, Jose Menendez, sexually abused them since they were young.
Among the evidence is a letter that Erik had written to a cousin about the sexual assault prior to committing the murders.
Gascón’s office also factored in a signed declaration by a member of the popular 1980s Puerto Rican boy band Menudo that he too was sexually assaulted by Jose Menendez.
The district attorney also said he’s requesting the state to consider the early release of the brothers as they began serving their long sentences at a young age with no potential threat to society.
The DA had said a hearing was scheduled for Nov. 29, but he said in an interview that he decided to speed up the process given the heightened public attention on the Menendez brothers’ case, largely stemming from a Netflix series and social media movement.
What’s next?
The final decision to shorten the Menendez brothers’ sentences and release them out of prison rests with a judge, not the district attorney.
“No matter what the DA says, no matter what the family members say, the judge may say the heinous crime was premeditated, and the motive was money in the estate,” Manny Medrano, a former federal prosecutor said.
But the DA’s request does help the defense, Medrano added.
Mark Geragos, the attorney for Erik and Lyle Menendez, said he was cautiously optimistic to get the brothers released.
“I'd like to get them home before the end of the year,” Geragos added.
Pushback against possible resentencing
Critics said Gascón is trying to leverage media attention through the national case ahead of the November election.
A September poll showed Gascon was trailing his challenger, Nathan Hochman, by 24 points.
"By releasing (the resentencing recommendation now, Gascón has cast a cloud over the fairness and impartiality of his decision, allowing Angelenos to question whether the decision was correct and just or just another desperate political move by a DA running a losing campaign scrambling to grab headlines through a made-for-TV decision," Hochman said in a statement.
The Los Angeles Association of Deputy District Attorney, which has been critical of their own boss, call Gascón''s latest move opportunistic.
“Throughout his disastrous tenure as DA, Gascón has consistently prioritized celebrity cases over the rights of crime victims, showing more interest in being in the spotlight than in upholding justice," the group said in a statement.
The brother of Kitty Menendez, who was murdered by her sons, has also publicly denounced Gascón's decision, claiming the new evidence the district attorney is using to shorten the brothers' sentences is not justifiable.
The Beverly Hills Police Department (BHPD), which was the investigating agency at the time of the murders, said it has not been contacted by the DA's Office regarding the new developments.
"The BHPD presented relevant facts and evidence to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, which resulted in the filing of criminal charges at the time," the police department said in a statement Thursday.
