Menendez brothers: Prosecutor supports steps that could lead to their freedom

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón will ask a judge to sentence Erik and Lyle Menendez, two brothers serving life sentences for killing their parents, a move that could pave the way for their release.

Gascón will request that the brothers be convicted of murder and be eligible for immediate parole, he said during a news conference Thursday.

“I have come to the point where I believe that resentencing is appropriate under the law and I will recommend that,” Gascón said. “In this particular case, that means we will recommend to the court to remove the life sentence without the possibility of parole and convict her of murder.”

The two brothers were sentenced to life in prison without parole after a jury found them guilty of killing their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, with two shotguns in their Beverly Hills home. The 1989 murders and subsequent televised trial sparked documentaries, films and television series that made the brothers two of the most well-known convicts.

The brothers have unsuccessfully appealed for years, but now they could have a path to freedom. A judge will ultimately decide whether the brothers will be released.

In 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez bought a pair of shotguns for cash, went into their Beverly Hills home and shot their parents while they were watching a movie in the family living room. Prosecutors said Jose Menendez was hit five times, including in the back of the head, and Kitty Menendez crawled on the ground, wounded, before the brothers reloaded and fired a final fatal shot.

At first it was rumored that the murders were mob attacks.

Prosecutors would argue that the murders arose out of greed and the brothers' desire to get their hands on their parents' multi-million dollar estate.

But during the trials, Erik and Lyle Menendez and their lawyers detailed what they said was years of violent sexual abuse the brothers endured at the hands of their father.

Earlier this month, more than 20 of the brothers' relatives called for the couple's release at a press conference.

“If Erik and Lyle's case were tried today, and with the understanding we now have about abuse and (post-traumatic stress disorder), there is no doubt in my mind that their sentencing would have been very different,” said Anamaria Baralt, a cousin of the siblings.

During Gascón's tenure as top prosecutor, he secured new sentences for more than 300 people, including 28 convicted of murder, but the Menendez brothers are the most high-profile convicts whose sentences were reduced at the district attorney's request.

The brothers' lawyers filed a habeas petition last year, arguing that new evidence supported their claim that they were sexually abused by their father for years before the murders.

The file included a letter that Erik Menendez sent to his cousin in December 1988 – eight months before the murders – that appeared to confirm the abuse allegations. It also included a statement from Roy Rosselló, a member of the boy band Menudo, who claimed that Jose Menendez raped him in 1984 when he was 13 or 14 years old.

Gascón's office has been reviewing the application and the case for more than a year.

Earlier this month, he said his office had a “moral and ethical obligation to consider what is presented to us and make a decision.”

There is no question that the brothers killed their parents, but Gascón said the question is whether the jury heard evidence that their father abused them and whether that evidence affected the outcome of the trial.

Evidence of sexual abuse, including statements from family friends and relatives, was included at the siblings' first trial, which ended in a hung jury.

But when they were tried together again, the jury didn't hear much of the testimony that supported their allegations of sexual abuse. The two were convicted of first-degree murder in March 1996.

The case attracted renewed public attention, sparked by television series and documentaries that focused on the infamous murders. In the Peacock documentary Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, allegations were made that Jose Menendez, an RCA Records executive, sexually assaulted Rosselló.

Gascón's decision has been criticized by those who say the move is a political ploy to help his re-election campaign.

Kitty Menendez's 90-year-old brother, Milton Andersen, released a statement Thursday criticizing the decision to seek new sentences for the brothers. He said Gascón refused to meet with him to discuss his decision before announcing it to the press.

Andersen's attorney, Kathy Cady, said the district attorney “manipulated the facts to gain a fleeting chance to save his political career.”

On Tuesday, Cady filed a motion for an amicus curiae brief to oppose a possible resentencing of the brothers.

Gascon election challenger Nathan Hochman has also questioned the timing of prosecutors' actions in the case and suggested he is grabbing headlines to save his flagging re-election. Polls show Gascon trailing Hochman by as much as 30 percentage points, and a Times analysis of campaign finances shows the challenger has raised significantly more funds than the district attorney.

Dmitry Gorin, a criminal defense attorney, said the evidence in the first trial was clear that the killings were premeditated, but the case appeared to have a chance of being reopened given the liberal policies of prosecutors under Gascón.

A judge will likely agree to the prosecutor's request because it is also supported by the brothers' defense attorneys.

“I give the defense credit for filing in a timely manner,” he said. “If this was probably filed with a new prosecutor in December, they’re not coming out. Most (district attorneys) in California wouldn’t let them out.”