Prosecutor’s Office recommends new sentence in case of Menéndez brothers

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced Thursday that he will ask the court on Friday for a new sentence in the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez, decades after the brothers were sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murders of his parents in 1989 in Beverly Hills. If the judge accepts his recommendation, the brothers would be immediately eligible for parole, he said.

Gascón held a news conference to announce his decision following growing calls to consider a new sentence for the brothers, who are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of first-degree murder for the slayings of their parents, José and Kitty Menendez. .

“I think they have paid their debt to society,” Gascón said.

He said he will ask the judge to consider resentencing the brothers to 50 years to life in prison. Because they committed the crimes when they were under 26, they would be eligible for parole, he said. Gascón said the final decision will be made by the judge and will then go before a parole board, which will determine if the brothers should be released.

He said his final decision was made an hour before the press conference.

Gascon said earlier this month that his office had been investigating the Menendez brothers’ case for about a year. The focus of the case has been on why the brothers killed their parents.

During his highly publicized first trial in 1993, prosecutors argued that the murders were committed out of greed, while defense attorneys said the murders were committed in self-defense. The brothers admitted that they killed their parents, but claimed that they had been sexually, emotionally and physically abused by them. Prosecutors suggested those claims were false. A mistrial was declared, and a second trial excluded what defense attorneys called evidence of abuse.

In May 2023, the brothers’ appellate attorney, Cliff Gardner, filed a habeas petition challenging the convictions. The petition cited a 1988 letter from Erik Menéndez to a cousin where he detailed alleged abuse by his father as new evidence.

Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, has also alleged that he was abused by José Menéndez, who was an executive at RCA Records, where the band had a record deal. Gardner has said These circumstances mean that the brothers should have been convicted of first-degree manslaughter, not murder, and should have received shorter sentences that would have allowed them to be released from prison years ago.

Two recent high-profile Netflix projects have drawn attention to the brothers’ case. Gascón said this has helped speed up the decision-making process. Some family members have He also called the brothers. to be released. But Kitty Menendez’s brother, Milton Andersen, objected, arguing in a court filing: “The ‘new evidence’ on which Gascón relies cannot legally justify overturning the murder convictions of Erik and Lyle Menendez, who planned and “They meticulously carried out the cold-blooded murders of both.” their parents.”

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