District Attorney Makes Huge Decision In Menendez Brothers Trial
Thursday was a huge day in Los Angeles as District Attorney George Gascón finally broke his silence and announced how he would be proceeding with the Lyle and Erik Menendez case. After the eyes of the public drew more interest back into the decades-old double homicide, there’s been pressure coming from those who believe the pair should be freed from prison. And, when it comes to the District Attorney – he wholeheartedly agrees with this side of the argument, recommending that the pair be resentenced.
Waiting On The Judge’s Decision
Passing down the recommendation today, Gascón asked the court that the original punishment of life without the possibility of parole be scratched from the record and that the siblings would instead receive a murder sentence.
This is huge for the Menendez brothers and their case as it could mean that they’ll be granted freedom as soon as a judge gives the okay – that is if the judge agrees with the District Attorney’s view. Their ages at the time of the double murder are playing into their hands, as, should the crimes have happened when they were over 26, the sentence would be 50 years to life. However, because they were both under 26, their 34 years in prison would act as time served.
Gascón noted that it will all come down to what the judge views as justice being served but the District Attorney said, “I believe that they have paid their debt to society.” Both of the Menendez brothers and their extended family (many of whom remain supportive of the pair) weren’t given the heads-up about the change of the case, so they probably found out just like the rest of us did – through the news report.
New Evidence
There has been a slew of newish evidence and support pouring out for the Menendez brothers and their murder case over the last few weeks, largely in part thanks to Ryan Murphy’s dramatized Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story as well as a documentary simply titled The Menendez Brothers. Part of that fresh evidence surrounds the brothers’ defense that they had been sexually abused by their father, Jose Menendez, for years.
A member of the boy band Menudo stepped forward to say that he too was sexually abused by Jose Menendez who was an executive at their record label. Another piece of the puzzle in the Menendez brothers case came from a letter that Erik penned to his cousin chronicling the alleged abuse a solid eight months before the murders.
A Chance At Parole
As for Gascón, the District Attorney said that a big part of why he felt the Menendez brothers’ case should be resentenced and released from prison as soon as possible was in how they have been spending their time behind bars. Even though they’ve had no chance at parole for the last more than three decades, both Erik and Lyle Menendez have kept up good behavior and have thrown themselves into working to make the prison a better and safer place for the inmates.
The murders themselves rocked the Los Angeles and particularly Beverly Hills community when, in 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez brutally murdered their parents, Kitty and Jose, with several blasts from shotguns. As soon as the Menendez brothers were arrested, the case took off like wildfire with headlines around the world dedicated to the proceedings.
Source: ABC 7
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