Erik and Lyle Menendez are one step closer to leaving prison, but freedom won’t come quickly

Stefanie Dazio, Jaimie Ding and Christopher Weber
| Associated Press

Los Angeles — Erik and Lyle Menendez still have a long way to go before they can get out of prison, even though the Los Angeles District Attorney has recommended that their sentences of life without parole be thrown out and the brothers be sentenced and immediately eligible for parole .

The brothers, convicted of murdering their parents in 1989 at the family’s Beverly Hills mansion, will have to get a judge to follow Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón’s recommendation Thursday, and then a parole board must approve their release . The last stop is with Gov. Gavin Newsom, who could overrule the board’s decision.

It is an uncertain process that can last for months.

Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, admitted to fatally shooting their father, Jose Menendez, an entertainment executive, and their mother, Kitty Menendez. The brothers said they feared their parents were out to kill them to keep people from finding out that Jose Menendez had been sexually abusing Erik Menendez for years.

Prosecutors at the time argued there was no evidence of molestation. The brothers’ first trial ended in a hung jury, and prosecutors won a conviction in the second after much of the evidence of abuse was thrown out of the trial. Prosecutors also said at the time that the brothers were after their parents’ multimillion-dollar fortune.

Now, the prosecutor and relatives say the world is better understanding the role of trauma in sexual abuse cases.

Critics accuse the DA of playing politics

Gascón, meanwhile, faces battles over his sentencing recommendation: His opponent in his re-election bid next month, as well as some of his prosecutors, have said the latest development in the case is politically motivated and the result of a recent Netflix documentary about the notorious. crime.

Michele Hanisee, president of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys, said Wednesday that Gascón’s decision smacks of “opportunism” to get headlines.

“Throughout his disastrous tenure as prosecutor, Gascón has consistently prioritized celebrity cases over the rights of crime victims, showing more interest in being in the spotlight than upholding justice,” Hanisee said in a statement .

But the district attorney said he made the final decision just an hour before Thursday’s press conference and that it was separate from politics.

Since their conviction in 1996, the brothers have been model prisoners, Gascón and their lawyer say, and have committed themselves to rehabilitation and redemption.

“I’ve come to a place where I think, according to the law, the sentence is appropriate,” Gascón said during the news conference.

What’s next?

Gascón’s office filed documents Thursday recommending the brothers — now 54 and 56 — receive a new sentence of 50 years to life. Because they were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately.

“I think they have paid their debt to society,” DA said.

A hearing before a judge could take place in about a month. If the judge agrees to the resentencing, the state parole board will conduct its own proceedings to determine whether they should be freed. If the board recommends parole, Newsom would have 150 days to review the case. The governor could give a conditional green light or overrule the board and deny them release.

Despite Gascón’s goal of freeing the brothers, Laurie Levenson, a criminal law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, warned that the judge would likely not be a “rubber stamp” because of dissent in the DA’s office.

“That puts the judge in a very difficult position,” Levenson said, noting that he hadn’t heard of any cases until recently where the bureau chief disagreed with other attorneys involved in the case. In the end, Gascón chose the “safest path” for his decision — leaving it up to the court and the parole board, she said.

Mark Geragos, an attorney for the brothers, said he hoped the brothers could be freed by Thanksgiving. Levenson called this term “terribly hopeful.”

The family comes together in a big way to demand the freedom of the brothers

The brothers’ extended family pleaded for their release. Several family members said that in today’s world — which is more aware of the impact of sexual abuse — the brothers would not have been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole.

Anamaria Baralt, a niece of Jose Menendez, said the district attorney’s “courageous and necessary” decision means “Lyle and Erik can finally begin to heal from the trauma of their past.”

Not everyone in the Menendez family shares the resentment. Lawyers for Milton Andersen, the 90-year-old brother of Kitty Menendez, filed a court case to uphold the brothers’ original sentence.

“They shot their mother, Kitty, reloading to ensure her death,” Andersen’s attorneys said in a statement Thursday. “The evidence remains overwhelmingly clear: the jury’s verdict was just, and the punishment fits the heinous crime.”

DA’s challenger intervenes

The LA district attorney is in the middle of a tough re-election battle against former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman, who has blamed Gascón’s progressive reform policies for recent high-profile murders and an increase in retail crime.

Gascón said Thursday that his office had recommended the sentencing of about 300 criminals, including people behind bars for murder.

Hochman questioned the timing of Gascón’s announcement, which came less than two weeks before the election, and called it a “desperate political move.”

He said he could not form his own opinion on the case without access to confidential records and relevant witnesses.

“If I become a prosecutor and the case is still pending at that time, I will conduct a review consistent with how I would review any case,” Hochman said.

Geragos said the prosecutor’s office took the case seriously before there was talk of him losing re-election.

New attention to the case

The case gained new traction in recent weeks after Netflix began airing the true-crime drama “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”

Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin pop group Menudo, also recently came forward saying he was drugged and raped by Jose Menendez as a teenager in the 1980s.

Rossello spoke about his abuse in the 2023 Peacock documentary series Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed. His accusations are part of the evidence listed in the petition filed last year by the Menendez brothers’ lawyer to request a review of their case.

Menudo was signed to RCA Records, which Jose Menendez ran at the time.

Associated Press reporter Thomas Peipert in Denver contributed to this report.