DA recommends resentencing for Menendez brothers following family, public pressure

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón has recommended resentencing for Lyle and Erik Menendez, who are each serving life in prison without parole.
“We are going to recommend to the court [on Friday] that the life without the possibility of parole be removed and they would be sentenced for murder,” which would be a sentence of 50 years to life, Gascón said at a news conference Thursday. But because of their age — they both were under 26 at the time of the crimes — they would be eligible for parole immediately, he said.
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The final decision will be made by the judge and the parole board must also approve, Gascón said, as the brothers’ family and Erik Menendez’s wife looked on. Gascón said he hopes to get a hearing on the docket within the next 30 to 45 days.
“I believe that they have paid their debt to society,” Gascón said, noting the brothers have been behind bars for nearly 35 years.
Gascón’s recommendation follows pressure from the brothers’ relatives, attorneys and supporters in the public.
Gascón told ABC News this month that any recommendation for resentencing would take into account the decades that the brothers already served and their behavior in prison. The brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos, called them model prisoners who worked tirelessly to reform themselves with no expectation they’d be released.
While incarcerated, the brothers focused on “creating groups to deal with how to address untreated trauma, creating groups to deal with other inmates that have physical disabilities and may be treated differently. Even in one case, Lyle negotiating for other inmates as to the conditions that they live under,” the district attorney said Thursday.
“All this was done by two young people. Now they’re not as young. They had no hopes of ever getting out of prison,” Gascón said.
Gascón said his message to the brothers is, “We appreciate what they did while they were in prison. While I disapprove of the way they handled their abuse, we hope that they not only have learned — which appears that they have — but that if they get reintegrated into our community, that they continue to do public good.”
“There is no excuse for murder,” the district attorney said, adding, “I do believe that the brothers was subjected to a tremendous amount of dysfunction in the home and molestation.”
“I don’t believe that manslaughter would have been the appropriate charge [to request in the resentencing filing] given the premeditation that was involved,” he added.
Following the district attorney’s announcement, Geragos was joined by several family members of the Menendez brothers who he said have “waited patiently for this day.”
“This is the family that knows them,” Geragos said at a press briefing. “This is the family that believes 35 years is enough.”
Geragos said he is “hopeful” the brothers will have a fair hearing.
“I believe before Thanksgiving they will be home,” he said.
Geragos said they have put together a “robust” reentry plan regarding the brothers’ potential release that they will provide to the court.
The decades-old case began on Aug. 20, 1989, when Lyle and Erik Menendez fatally shot their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in the family’s Beverly Hills home. Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, used shotguns they bought days earlier.
Prosecutors alleged the brothers killed their wealthy parents for financial gain.
The defense argued the brothers acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father.
Their first trials — which captured the nation’s attention with cameras in the courtroom — ended in mistrials.
In 1996, at the end of a second trial — in which the judge barred much of the sex abuse evidence — the brothers were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole.
The sensational case gained new attention this fall with the release of the Netflix drama “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 member of the boy band Menudo who said he was molested by Jose Menendez, and a letter Erik Menendez wrote to a cousin eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse.
Erik Menendez’s cousin testified about the alleged abuse at trial, but Erik Menendez’s letter — which would have corroborated the cousin’s testimony — wasn’t unearthed until several years ago, according to Geragos.
Nearly two dozen of the brothers’ relatives united at a news conference last week to push for their resentencing.
“Their actions, while tragic, were the desperate response of two boys trying to survive the unspeakable cruelty of their father,” Kitty Menendez’s sister, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, said. “As their aunt, I had no idea of the extent of the abuse they suffered.”
“It’s time to give them the opportunity to live the rest of their lives free from the shadow of their past,” she said.
Behind bars, the siblings “sought to better themselves and serve as a support and inspiration for survivors all over the world,” added Jose Menendez’s niece, Anamaria Baralt. “Their continued incarceration serves no rehabilitative purpose.”
The brothers “deserve a chance to heal, and our family deserves a chance to heal with them,” Baralt said.
Despite the massive show of support, one relative — the brothers’ uncle, Milton Andersen — is adamant about keeping them behind bars. He said in a statement he firmly believes his nephews were not sexually assaulted and were motivated by greed.