Rocío Muñoz-Ledo
Los Angeles (CNN) – Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said Thursday that he will recommend a judge hand down a new sentence for Lyle and Erik Menéndez, nearly 30 years after the brothers were convicted of the crimes. murders of their parents, José and Kitty, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“After a very careful review of all the arguments presented by people on both sides of this equation, I have come to a point where I believe that, under the law, a resentencing is appropriate and I am going to recommend that to a court tomorrow.” Gascon said.
Gascón added that the brothers should be “eligible for parole immediately.”
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A Los Angeles Superior Court judge will ultimately decide whether to hand down a new sentence for the brothers, Gascón’s office said. Although Gascón said he would make his recommendation on Friday, a date for a hearing on the matter has not been determined, according to his office.
The district attorney previously said a hearing could be scheduled toward the end of November, but none are currently scheduled on the court calendar.
Gascón’s reassessment of the case stems from a defense motion that cites what the Menendez brothers‘ attorneys argue is new evidence, as well as a recent California law in which the court can consider sentences in comparable cases. The judge may also consider whether the defendants were victims of psychological or physical abuse, whether they are rehabilitated, and whether they pose a danger to society.
The reevaluation of the case comes more than 35 years after the fatal shooting of José and Kitty Menéndez in their Beverly Hills home. His sons, Lyle and Erik, who were 21 and 18 at the time, were arrested less than a year later in 1990 and charged with first-degree murder.
In their high-profile trials decades ago – one of the first televised cases – the brothers did not deny killing their parents, but argued that they should not be convicted because they acted in self-defense after enduring a life of abuse at the hands of their father. .
A first trial ended in a mistrial after jurors failed to agree on charges. At his second trial, much of the defense’s evidence about sexual abuse was excluded. The brothers were convicted in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison.
Last year, attorneys for the Menéndez brothers filed a habeas corpus petition asking the court to reconsider the conviction and sentence in light of new evidence, including a sworn statement from former Menudo gang member Roy Rosselló. who claimed that José Menéndez sexually assaulted him in the 1980s. Lawyers also said that a letter Erik Menéndez wrote to a cousin months before the murders alludes to the abuse he suffered.
The defense asks the court to vacate the brothers’ conviction and sentence, or allow discovery and an evidentiary hearing during which they can provide evidence, the petition says.
“I think Lyle and Erik have already paid for their parents’ crime,” says the director of “The Menéndez Brothers”
The brothers’ story has sparked new interest following the September premiere of the Netflix series, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” co-created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan. Netflix also released a documentary about the Menendez case this month, in which both men discuss what led to the murders.
Gascón, who is campaigning for re-election on a platform that includes sentencing reform, told CNN this month that times have changed when it comes to how the public and courts treat victims of sexual abuse.
“There’s no question that a jury today would probably view this case very differently than a jury did 35 years ago,” he said.
Last week, the brothers’ relatives made passionate pleas for their release.
Joan VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister, said the brothers’ actions were “the desperate response of two boys trying to survive their father’s unspeakable cruelty.”
“They were just kids. “Children who could have been protected and instead were brutalized in the most horrible ways,” he said.
CNN’s Amanda Musa and Melissa Gray reported and wrote from Atlanta, and Cindy Von Quednow wrote from Los Angeles
