Major update in case of Lyle and Erik Menendez
There has been a big development in the case of Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were jailed for life over the grisly murder of their parents.
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Lyle and Erik Menendez, the brothers who were jailed for life for brutally murdering their parents, could be out of prison within weeks after a bombshell statement from the chief prosecutor in Los Angeles.
The brothers have been in prison since 1996, when they were sentenced to life without parole for the fatal shooting of their parents, José and Kitty, at the family’s Beverly Hills home on August 20, 1989.
Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 at the time of the murders.
Prosecutors at the time argued that the two had plotted to do away with their wealthy parents in a bid to hasten a $14 million inheritance.
George Gascón told a packed press conference on Thursday local time he would ask a judge to rule that the men, whose 35-year-old case has received renewed attention due to a recent Netflix show and documentary series, should have their sentence reduced.
If a judge accepts his recommendation, the pair will be made eligible for immediate parole under a 2015 bill passed in California that allows individuals sentenced to life in prison before the age of 25 to seek parole after serving 25 years.
“After a very careful review of all the arguments made … I came to a place where I believe that, under the law, resentencing is appropriate and I’m going to recommend that to a court tomorrow,” Mr Gascón said.
A judge will have the final say in the case during a hearing on November 26.
But the pair and their supporters maintained that they killed José and Kitty in self-defence after enduring years of sexual, physical and psychological abuse at the hands of their father.
These allegations were largely dismissed as false, but Mr Gascón said earlier this month there was “a moral and an ethical obligation” to review evidence submitted by the Menendez’s lawyers last year.
This included a sworn statement by former Menudo boy band member Roy Rosselló, alleging José sexually assaulted him in the 1980s, and a letter Erik wrote to a cousin months before the killings, alluding to the abuse he endured.
“I believe the brothers were subject to a tremendous amount of dysfunction in their home and molestation,” Mr Gascón said on Thursday.
“There is no excuse for murder, and I will never imply that what we’re doing here is excusing that. But I understand that people get desperate.”
He said the brothers “have paid their debt to society” and that it was an important chance for “self-reflection”.
“Because often, we don’t believe victims of sexual assault, whether they’re women (or) men,” Mr Gascón said.
“(Our) own implicit and sometimes explicit bias around sexual abuse and sexual assault often leads us to severe injustices in our community.”
Mr Gascón said his recommendation would be that the two men be resentenced for a lesser degree of murder, a charge that would carry a sentence of 50 years to life.
“However, because of their age under the law, since they were under 26 years of age at the time that these crimes occurred, they would be eligible for parole immediately,” he added.
There had been “many people in this office” who had spent “a great deal of time” reviewing the Menendez case, he said, and not all had agreed with his ruling.
“I can tell you unequivocally that we don’t have a universal agreement,” Mr Gascón said.
“There are people in this office that strongly believe (they) should stay in prison for life and they do not believe they were molested.
“And there are people in this office that strongly believe they should be released immediately, and that they were, in fact, molested.”
Neither the brothers nor other members of the Menendez family had been informed of Mr Gascón’s decision before his announcement.
Originally published as Major update in case of Lyle and Erik Menendez
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