Petition to resentence Menendez brothers in murder of their parents to be filed today

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced Thursday that he would recommend resentencing for Lyle and Erik Menendez, who fatally shot their parents in their Beverly Hills home in 1989.

The move could lead to the release of the brothers, who were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in a case that attracted international attention.

They have been incarcerated for nearly 35 years.

Gascón said he would file the petition for resentencing with the Superior Court on Friday, and a judge would decide whether to approve it. The district attorney said he would recommend sentencing the brothers to 50 years to life in prison, making them eligible for parole.

"I believe that they have paid their debt to society," Gascón said at an afternoon news conference. "And the system provides a vehicle for their case to be reviewed by a parole board, and if parole concurs with my assessment — it will be their decision — they will be released accordingly."

Erik Menendez (left) is shown in 2016 and Lyle Menendez in 2018 in photos provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

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California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

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AP

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He said people within his own office had widely differing opinions on the matter, some of whom supported the idea of resentencing and releasing the brothers immediately, and others who believe they should spend the rest of their lives in prison.

Background

After they were arrested, the brothers never denied committing the killings, in which they repeatedly fired shotguns at their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez as they watched television the night of Aug. 20, 1989. The brothers said they did so after years of sexual abuse by their father and because they feared for their lives.

They also said their mother knew about the molestation and that hers was a “mercy” killing.

Their claims were met with widespread skepticism.

Prosecutors at the time said the brothers were motivated by greed because they stood to inherit their father’s multi-million dollar estate.

Erik Menendez was 18 at the time of the murders. Lyle Menendez was 21. They are now 53 and 56, respectively.

At the Thursday news conference, Gascón, who is seeking reelection in November, stressed that his decision was not intended to excuse the brothers' actions decades ago.

"I want to underline, they were horrible acts," he said. "There is no excuse for murder, and I will never imply that what we are doing here is to excuse that behavior. Because even if you get abused, the right path is to call the police, seek help.

"But I also understand how sometimes people get desperate. We often see women, for instance, that have been battered for years and sometimes they will murder their abuser out of desperation. And I do believe that the brothers were subjected to a tremendous amount of dysfunction in the home and molestation."

New evidence

Gascón’s decision follows the release of new evidence in a Netflix documentary on the case this year. The new evidence is a letter written by Erik Menendez to a cousin months before the killings in which he writes about the abuse by his father.

There have been many TV shows and documentaries about the Menendez case over the years, including a dramatized version of the story released last month that drew criticism from family members, but he noted the most recent one had brought "a tremendous amount of public attention."

"Frankly, our office got flooded with requests for information and even though this case was already scheduled to be heard in late November, I decided to move this forward," Gascón said, adding that he did so because the office didn't have the resources to handle the calls.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos, who represents the brothers, said previously that he has obtained a declaration from Roy Rossello, a former member of the band Menudo, stating Jose Menendez also molested him in the 1980s. Jose Menendez was an RCA executive who signed the band to the label.

In announcing that he was reviewing the case, Gascón said “it's important to recognize that both men and women can be victims of sexual abuse.”

In the brothers’ first trial, which was nationally televised, Judge Stanley Weisberg allowed extensive testimony about sexual abuse. The brothers had separate juries and both deadlocked.

The judge declared a mistrial.

In the brothers’ second trial, which was not televised, Weisberg severely limited testimony about sexual abuse, and a jury found them guilty of first-degree murder with special circumstances.

Gascón said teams within his office "have spent hundreds of hours by now" reviewing the Menendez case, including the prison files. Among other factors, the review focused on whether the brothers had been rehabilitated and whether they could be released safely into the community.

Under that rubric, he said, the office has resentenced more than 300 people since Gascón has been in office, including 28 people who had been convicted of murder. He said four of those 300 have reoffended.

"If that was the regular recidivism rate around the country, we would be the safest nation in the world," he said.

Support from family members

Several members of the Menendez family were present at Gascón’s news conference. Last week, many of those same family members held a news conference of their own to urge Gascón to seek the re-sentencing of the brothers and their release.

Anamaria Baralt, a cousin of the brothers, introduced a coalition called "Justice for Erik and Lyle" and described the brothers as victims of a system that would not hear them and a culture that was not ready to listen.

"If Lyle and Erik's case were heard today, with the understanding we now have about abuse and PTSD, there is no doubt in my mind that their sentencing would have been very different," Baralt said.

Supporters of the brothers argue they would have been found guilty of voluntary manslaughter instead of murder, based on a legal theory of imperfect self-defense. Manslaughter in California carries a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison.

Joan Andersen VanderMolen, an aunt of the Menendez brothers, said last week that she had struggled for years to come to terms with what happened to her sister's family. She called it a nightmare none of the family members could imagine.

"But as details of Lyle and Eric's abuse came to light, it became clear," she continued, "that their actions while tragic were the desperate response of two boys trying to survive the unspeakable [cruelty] of their father."

Some oppose release

Not all members of the Menendez family want to see the brothers released.

The brother of Kitty Menendez, Milton Anderson, opposes their release, according to his attorney Kathy Cady.

“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,” Cady said in a statement.

Cady said Anderson has not been contacted by Gascón’s office about a possible resentencing as required by law.

The District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to the allegation.

LAist reporter Makenna Sievertson contributed to this report.