THE TIDES ARE CHANGING FOR THE MENENDEZ BROTHERS

THE TIDES ARE CHANGING FOR  MENENDEZ  BROTHERS

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   More than three decades after Lyle and Erik Menendez were 

convicted of the murders of their parents and sentenced to life in

 prison without the possibility of parole, the brothers now see a

 path to their potential release.

Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón on Friday will recommend that

 a judge resentence the siblings – a decision that was the culmination of a 

review that came after defense attorneys said in 2023 they had new 

evidence pointing to abuse by their father.

  “I will never excuse murder, and those were brutal, premeditated 

murders,” Gascón , the current DA, said Thursday. “They 

were appropriately sentenced at the time when they were tried. 

They got life without the possibility of parole. I just think that 

given the current state of the law and given our assessment of 

their behavior in prison, they deserve the opportunity to be re-

evaluated and perhaps reintegrated into the community.”

  A hearing on the matter COULD be held in 30- 45 days, when aLos

 Angeles Superior Court judge will ultimately decide whether the 

brothers will be resentenced. Gascón said he supports the 

resentencing of the brothers to life with the possibility of parole ;

 which normally would mean 50 years to life in prison. But because

 the crimes happened when the brothers were under 26 years old,

 they would be eligible for youthful parole under California law.

  Calling the brothers “model prisoners,” Gascón told reporters he 

believes there’s a good chance they would be paroled if the 

decision reaches the parole board. An attorney for one of the

 brothers said he hopes they’ll be home by Thanksgiving.

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REEXAMINATION OF THE CASE AFTER 1989

    The reexamination of the case comes more than 35 years after

 the 1989 fatal shooting of Jose and Kitty Menendez in their

 Beverly Hills mansion. Their sons, who were 21 and 18 at the 

time, were arrested less than a year later, in 1990, and convicted 

of first-degree murder in 1996.

   At the two high-profile trials, with separate juries,  the brothers 

did not deny killing their parents, but argued they should not be convicted because 

they acted in self-defense after enduring a lifetime of physical and

 sexual abuse by their father. The first trial – one of the first cases

 to be televised – ended in a mistrial after jurors deadlocked on the

 charges. In their second trial, much of the defense evidence about

 sexual abuse was excluded, and the brothers were found guilty in

 1996 and sentenced to life in prison.

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WHAT LEAD TO RE-SENTENCING?

   Multiple factors led to the resentencing recommendation, but 

whether the brothers – now in their 50s – could be released from 

prison remains uncertain. Here’s what led to the decision and what

 could happen next: 

  Gascón’s reexamination of the case came after attorneys for the 

Menendez brothers filed a habeas corpus petition in 2023, citing 

what they argue is new evidence, as well as a recent California law

 on resentencing in which the court can take into consideration sentences

 in comparable cases.

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NEW EVIDENCE COMES TO LIGHT

    Among the new evidence the 2023 petition asked a court to 

consider: a sworn statement by former Menudo boy band member

 Roy Rosselló, who alleged Jose Menendez sexually assaulted him

 in the 1980s. The attorneys also said a letter Erik Menendez wrote

 to a cousin months before the killings alludes to the abuse he

 endured.

   Gascón, who is campaigning for reelection next month on a 

platform that includes sentencing reform, told media things have 

changed regarding how the public and the courts treat victims of

 sexual abuse.

  The district attorney’s office also considered the brothers’ 

behavior while incarcerated, and they have “shown tremendous 

amount of efforts to rehabilitate,” Gascón said.

   “They have been model prisoners by all accounts. Not only have 

they worked on their own self-improvement, but they have done a 

lot of work to better the life of those around them, which that part

 is unusual,” Gascón told CNN, indicating that the men created

 groups to address how to deal with untreated trauma and help 

inmates with physical disabilities.

Citing their conduct during the last three decades in prison, Gascón

 said he believes that there’s a strong possibility that the brothers 

will be paroled.

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CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

  “What they did was horrible. They premeditated the murder of 

their parents and killed them. But I think they’re different people 

today, and we base our opinion on the last 35 years of behavior,” 

Gascón said.

 The choice on whether the brothers should be paroled will 

however ultimately lie with the parole board if the court agrees 

with the district attorney’s office on the resentencing, according to

 the district attorney.

    When asked about mounting criticism from opponents who

 suggested reconsidering the Menendez brothers’ sentence was a

 political move, Gascón said, “There’s nothing political about this,”

 adding that more than 300 resentencings have happened in the 

county since he took office in December 2020, including 28 for 

murder.