A Los Angeles judge who will decide whether or not Erik and Lyle Menendez will be resentenced – and as a result, possibly released from prison on parole – has scheduled a Dec. 11 hearing for the brothers, who are serving life-without-parole terms for the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents inside the family’s Beverly Hills home.
LA Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic held an in-camera hearing Wednesday and set the date, which could bring the Menendez brothers back to the Van Nuys Courthouse where they were convicted and sentenced decades ago.
LA County District Attorney George Gascón’s office filed a resentencing motion last week that requested the brothers have their penalties for the murders of their parents, José Menendez and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez, reduced to 50-years-to-life each, which would make the brothers eligible for an immediate parole hearing.
Also Wednesday Gascón’s office said Wednesday it would support the brothers’ separate requests for clemency, which their attorney said had been submitted to the office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
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"They have respectively served 34 years and have continued their educations and worked to create new programs to support the rehabilitation of fellow inmates,” said Gascón in a statement.
Newsom’s office declined to confirm such a request had been made and said clemency discussions were confidential.
"Pending clemency applications are confidential and we’re not able to discuss individual cases," Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said in a statement.
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What's next?
On Dec. 11, the judge will first hear from defense lawyers for the brothers and will schedule a hearing to consider the request.
Attorneys for the brothers said they are in support of the DA’s motion, so it is expected that a hearing could be scheduled without much delay.
Will resentencing be granted?
The DA’s office under Gascón has considered or pursued resentencings in more than 700 convictions, including those murder cases. 332, or just under half, have been granted by the court.
Some resentencing motions filed by the DA’s office are rejected if the court disagrees with the reasoning or information behind the motion.
In the case of the Menendez brothers, a judge would decide whether the Menendez brothers’ “post conviction” conduct in prison, meaning good behavior, and rehabilitation efforts have met the legal standards for resentencing.
“Defendants have demonstrated they no longer present a public safety risk …such that their current sentence is no longer in furtherance of justice,” prosecutors wrote.
When could they be released?
The timeline is unclear as the court has yet to hold its first hearing on the resentencing request, but assuming the judge approves the proposed sentences, Erik and Lyle Menendez would be eligible for an immediate parole hearing, where many of the factors raised in the resentencing motion would be considered. That hearing process typically takes several months to complete.
What if they are released?
Geragos said there’s already a plan in place for the brothers’ reentry into society although he declined to reveal details for security reasons.
The reentry plan was previewed with the DA’s office, according to Geragos.
Lyle and Erik Menendez are both married to spouses who make a living, said Geragos, who added Lyle is in a master’s degree program while Erik is in the process of getting his undergraduate degree.
