Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón has recommended re-sentencing Lyle and Erik Menendezwho are each serving life in prison without parole.
“We will recommend to the court (on Friday) that they be deprived of life without the possibility of parole and they will be sentenced for murder,” Gascón said in a press conference on Thursday, which would be a 50-year sentence. . But because of their age — both were under 26 when the crimes occurred — they would be immediately eligible for parole, he said.
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Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon speaks at a press conference in his office in Los Angeles in the case of brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez, who have spent 34 years in prison for the shotgun murders of their parents. 24 of 2024
Mike Blake/Reuters
The final decision will be taken by the judge and must also be approved by the parole board, said Gascon, in view of the brothers’ family and Erik Menendez’s wife. Gascón said he expects to receive a hearing on the case in the next 30 to 45 days.
“I think they have paid their debt to society,” Gascon said, adding that the brothers have been together for almost 35 years.
Arnold VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s nephew, right, speaks with Kitty Menendez’s sister, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, during a news conference on Oct. 24, 2024, in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon.
Eric Thayer/AP
He follows Gascon’s recommendation pressure from brothers and sisterslawyers and supporters in the public.
Gascón told ABC News this month that any recommendation for re-sentencing will take into account the decades the brothers have already served and their behavior in prison. Attorneys for the Mark Geragos brothers called them model prisoners who worked to reform themselves with no hope of ever being released.
Defense attorneys for Mark Geragos, Erik and Lyle Menendezs wait during a news conference by Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon at the Hall of Justice, Oct. 24, 2024, in Los Angeles.
Eric Thayer/AP
While incarcerated, the brothers “focused on creating groups to deal with untreated trauma, creating groups to deal with other inmates who have physical disabilities and may be treated differently. Even in one case, Lyle was negotiating with other inmates about the conditions they live under,” the district attorney said Thursday.
“All this was done by two young people. Now they are not so young. They had no hope of ever getting out of prison,” said Gascon.
Gascón said the message addressed to the brothers: “We appreciate what they did while they were in prison. Although I condemn, although I condemn the way they handled their abuse, we hope that they have not only learned, but also that if they are integrated into our community, they continue to do public good” .
Erik and Lyle Menendez are pictured in these booking photos taken on October 10, 2024.
CRDC
“There is no excuse for murder,” the district attorney said, adding, “I think the brothers suffered tremendous dysfunction in the home and abuse.”
“I don’t think that murder would have been an appropriate charge (to request in the re-pension file) considering the premeditation he had,” he added.
After the attorney’s announcement, he was joined by several family members of the Geragos Menendez brothers, who said that they have been “patiently waiting for this day”.
“This is the family that knows them,” Geragos said at a news conference. “This is the family that thinks 35 years is enough.”
Geragos said he is “hopeful” the brothers will have a fair hearing.
“I think they’ll be home before Thanksgiving,” he said.
Geragos said that they have put together a “solid” plan for the possible release of the brothers who will be presented to the court.
Erik Menendez, left, and his brother Lyle in front of their Beverly Hills home on November 30, 1989.
Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, FILE
The decades-long case began on August 20, 1989, when Lyle and Erik Menendez shot and killed their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in the family’s Beverly Hills home. Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, were using shotguns they had purchased days earlier.
Prosecutors allege the brothers killed their wealthy parents for financial gain.
The defense argued that the brothers acted in self-defense after being sexually abused by their father.
Erik Menendez with his attorney Leslie Abramson and his brother Lyle Menendez during the trial in Los Angeles on March 9, 1994.
Ted Soqui/Sygma via Getty Images, FILE
Their first trials — which captured the nation’s attention with courtroom cameras — ended in mistrials.
In 1996, at the end of a second trial — in which the judge barred much of the evidence of sexual abuse — the brothers were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to two consecutive terms in prison without the possibility of parole.
Lyle Menendez reports on his and brother Erik’s trial for the murders of their parents on October 20, 1995 in Los Angeles.
(Steve Grayson/Pool Photo via AP, FILE
Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez sit with defense attorney Leslie Abramson, right, in Beverly Hills Municipal Court, November 26, 1990, during a hearing.
Nick Ut/AP, FILE
The sensational case gained new attention this fall with the release of the Netflix documentary “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” and the Netflix documentary “The Menendez Brothers.”
Gascón said this month that his office was evaluating new evidence: allegations from a Menudo boy gang member who said Jose Menendez molested him and a letter Erik Menendez wrote to a cousin eight months before the murders detailing the alleged abuse.
Erik Menendez’s cousin testified about the alleged abuse at the trial, but Erik Menendez’s letter — which would corroborate his cousin’s testimony — wasn’t released until several years ago, Geragos said.
Relatives of nearly two dozen brothers they united in a press conference last week to promote their resentment.
“Their actions, while tragic, were a desperate response by two boys trying to survive their father’s unspeakable cruelty,” said Kitty Menendez’s sister, Joan Andersen VanderMolen. “As their aunt, I had no idea the extent of the abuse they suffered.”
“It is time to give them the opportunity to live the rest of their lives free from the shadow of the past,” he said.
Joan Andersen VanderMolen, sister of Kitty Menendez, speaks at a press conference outside the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles on Oct. 16, 2024.
KABC
Behind bars, the siblings “wanted to better themselves and serve as a support and inspiration to survivors around the world,” added Jose Menendez’s niece, Anamaria Baralte. “Their incarceration does not serve the purpose of rehabilitation.”
The brothers “deserve the opportunity to heal, and our family deserves the opportunity to heal with them,” said Baralt.
Despite the outpouring of support, one relative — the brothers’ uncle, Milton Andersen — is determined to keep them behind bars. She said in a statement that she strongly believes her nieces were not sexually assaulted and motivated by greed.
