Prosecutors in the US have beneficial resentencing Lyle and Erik Menendez for the homicide of their dad and mom after new proof emerged of sexual abuse by their father.
The brothers have been behind bars for 34 years, serving life sentences for capturing their father and mom of their dwelling in Beverly Hills, California, in a infamous case that was just lately the topic of a documentary movie.
They had been sentenced in 1996 to life in jail with out the potential for parole for the 1989 killings.
Los Angeles County District Legal professional George Gascon mentioned on Thursday his workplace will suggest the brothers’ sentences be rescinded they usually be resentenced to 50 years to life.
As a result of they had been beneath 26 years previous on the time of the crimes, they are going to be eligible for parole instantly, he mentioned.
“I got here to a spot the place I imagine, beneath the regulation, resentencing is acceptable,” Gascon instructed reporters.
“It’s salient to know that our personal implicit and typically express bias round sexual abuse and sexual assault typically leads us to extreme injustices in our neighborhood,” he mentioned.
Gascon added some members of his workplace opposed the choice to suggest the resentencing.
Feared dad and mom would kill them
Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, admitted they fatally shot their leisure government father, Jose Menendez, and their mom, Kitty Menendez, within the den of their Beverly Hills mansion.
The brothers mentioned they feared their dad and mom had been about to kill them to cease folks from discovering out that Jose Menendez had sexually abused Erik Menendez for years.
The Menendez brothers had been tried twice for the murders, with the primary trial ending in a hung jury.
Prosecutors on the time argued that there was no proof of molestation, and lots of particulars of their story of sexual abuse weren’t permitted within the second trial.
They argued the motive for the murders was the household’s multimillion-dollar fortune.
The brothers have unsuccessfully appealed their convictions.
The Menendez case has gained new consideration just lately after Netflix started streaming the true-crime drama collection, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
Prosecutors are reviewing a letter, written by Erik Menendez when he was 13 years previous to his cousin, that his attorneys say backs up the allegations that he was sexually abused by his father.
There may be additionally proof from Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin pop group Menudo, who additionally revealed in a 2023 Peacock movie that he was drugged and raped twice by the brothers’ father when he was a teen within the Eighties.
Menudo was signed beneath RCA Data, which was headed by Jose Menendez.
These allegations are a part of the proof listed within the petition filed final yr by the Menendez brothers’ lawyer to evaluate their case.
Household help
The brothers’ prolonged household have pleaded for his or her launch.
At a latest information convention, a number of members of the family mentioned the brothers’ 1996 sentence was at a time when folks didn’t need to hear about sexual abuse.
“If Lyle and Erik’s case had been heard as we speak, with the understanding we now have about abuse and PTSD, there isn’t any doubt in my thoughts that their sentencing would have been very totally different,” mentioned Anamaria Baralt, a cousin of the brothers.
However some members of the family suppose they need to keep in jail. Kitty Menendez’s brother, Milton Andersen, 90, filed a authorized transient asking the court docket to maintain the brothers’ unique punishment.
“They shot their mom, Kitty, reloading to make sure her dying,” Andersen’s attorneys mentioned in a press release. “The proof stays overwhelmingly clear: The jury’s verdict was simply, and the punishment matches the heinous crime.”
Gascon instructed reporters regardless of their life sentences, the brothers labored on redemption and rehabilitation inside jail.
“I imagine that they’ve paid their debt to society,” he mentioned.
