LA district attorney will recommend resentencing for Menendez brothers

LOS ANGELES (CN) — LA District Attorney George Gascón announced Thursday that his office will be recommending that Erik and Lyle Menendez, who killed their parents in 1989, be resentenced — a move that will likely lead to the brothers’ release from prison.

“I believe they have paid their debt to society,” Gascón said at a press conference. “And the system provides a vehicle for their case to be reviewed by a parole board. If the parole board concurs with my assessment, they will be released accordingly.”

Erik and Lyle Menendez have been locked up for 35 years, serving sentences of life without the possibility of parole. They have claimed, both during their trials and after, that they were sexually abused by their father Jose, and that the killings were done out of fear of continued abuse and a response to trauma. Their first trial ended in a mistrial in 1994, with the jury remaining deadlocked after a month of deliberations. After a second trial in 1996, the brothers were convicted. During both trials, prosecutors argued that Jose never abused his children, and that the brothers were motivated by money.

Recently, two new pieces of evidence have emerged that the brothers and their supporters say add weight to the claims of abuse. In 2023, a former member of the boy band Menudo, Roy Rossello, revealed that Jose Menendez, a record executive, drugged and raped him when he was 14 years old. In addition to that, a letter purportedly written by Erik Menendez to his cousin in 1988, less than a year before the killings, was unearthed. In the letter, Menendez refers to the sexual abuse, writing, “Every night I stay up thinking he might come in.”

Last year, the brothers filed a writ of habeas corpus, asking for the convictions to be thrown out based on new evidence, writing in a brief, “The new evidence not only shows that Jose Menendez was very much a violent and brutal man who would sexually abuse children, but it strongly suggests that — in fact — he was still abusing Erik Menendez as late as December 1988.”

Gascón said his decision was based on the new evidence, which added weight to the brothers’ testimony that they had been molested by their father. He also found the brothers had shown, in prison, signs that they had been rehabilitated and would no longer be a danger to society. Unlike the brothers’ attorney, Gascón said he believes the killing was murder.

“There was no excuse for murder, and I will never imply that what we do is excuse the behavior,” Gascón said.

Prosecutors will file a motion Friday for the brothers to be sentenced to life with parole, normally a sentence of 50 years for a double murder, but shorter given the young age of the brothers at the time of the murder. If the judge agrees, the case will be heard by the parole board. In theory, the brothers could be released before the end of the year.

Last week, more than 20 of Erik and Lyle’s family members met with Gascón, asking for the brothers to be resentenced under Marsy’s Law, which gives crime victims a right to be heard prior to sentencing, as well as a say in resentencing hearings. Most of the extended Menendez family say 35 years in prison is more than enough for the brothers, now in their mid 50s, given the abuse they suffered at the hands of their father.

But not all family members agree. Milton Anderson, the 90-year-old surviving brother of the brothers’ mom Kitty, has spoken out against letting his sister’s killers go free.

“The ’new evidence’ Gascón relies on cannot legally justify overturning the murder convictions of Erik and Lyle Menendez, who meticulously planned and executed the cold-blooded murders of both their parents,” Anderson’s attorney said in a written statement on Thursday. “They shot their mother, Kitty, reloading to ensure her death. The evidence remains overwhelmingly clear: the jury’s verdict was just, and the punishment fits the heinous crime.”

Anderson also accused Gascón of using the Menendez case in a desperate attempt to save his political career. Gascón, after surviving numerous recall attempts, is locked in a tough reelection battle with former prosecutor Nathan Hochman; most polls predict Gascón will be trounced by 20 to 30 points.

“There is nothing political about this,” said Gascón at the press conference, noting that his office has seen more than 300 offenders resented. Only four have reoffended.

Mark Geragos, the brothers’ well-known attorney, based in LA, sought to turn suspicion back on Anderson, saying at his own press conference, “Somehow, Anderson found a lawyer who is a disgruntled ex-DA who is endorsing Gascón’s opponent.”

Gascón acknowledged his own office is rife with division over whether or not the Menendez brothers should go free.

“There are people in the office that strongly believe the Menendez brothers should stay in prison their whole life, and they do not believe they were molested,” Gascón said Thursday. “It is possible that people in this office will be present in court, opposing the resentencing. They have a right to do so.”

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