Menendez Brothers: Sentencing Recommendation Decision Announced

Menendez Brothers: FULL PRESS CONFERENCE

LA County DA George Gascón said prosecutors will recommend that the brothers’ life sentences without parole be revoked and that they be resentenced for the two murder convictions, which would amount to a maximum of 50 years to life. He said they would automatically be eligible for parole because of their age at the time of the crime.

LOS ANGELES – BREAKING UPDATE: Menendez Brothers: Resentencing recommended by LA DA Gascón

LA County District Attorney George Gascón has recommended that Erik and Lyle Menendez be resentenced after serving 35 years behind bars, although a judge will have to make the final decision.

The brothers are serving life without parole for the 1989 murders of their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez in Beverly Hills.

Gascón told the media that his office was divided on the decision – with one group involved in the original trial aimed at keeping the brothers in prison, while the other group believes the brothers deserve another chance because of the charges of sexual abuse.

Menendez Brothers: Erik, Lyle closer to freedom

Erik and Lyle Menendez could elope as early as the holidays if a judge allows the resentencing, as recommended by Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.

This comes weeks after Gascón held a press conference in which he revealed that his office was reevaluating the case after “new evidence” came to light. One piece of evidence was a letter Erik allegedly wrote to his cousin Andy Cano. According to the brothers’ lawyers, Cano’s mother found the letter nine years ago. Cano testified at trial that Erik told him about his father’s abuse when Erik was 13. Cano died in 2003.

The second piece of evidence reviewed was an affidavit from a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, who claimed he was molested by José Menendez as a teenager.

Family members of Erik and Lyle Menendez are calling for their release

More than a dozen family members of Erik and Lyle Menendez called Wednesday for the brothers’ release from prison after the murders of their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion 35 years ago.

Last week, nearly two dozen family members of the brothers held a joint press conference calling for Erik and Lyle’s release.

“They have been in prison for over 35 years. If they were the Menendez sisters, they would not be in custody. We have evolved,” said Erik and Lyle’s attorney, Mark Geragos.

Joan Andersen VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister, called the couple’s actions “tragic” but the “desperate reaction of two boys trying to survive their father’s unspeakable cruelty.”

‘I had no idea the extent of the abuse they suffered at the hands of my brother-in-law. None of us had,” she added. “We know that abuse has long-lasting effects, and that victims of trauma sometimes behave in ways that are very difficult to understand.”

Menendez Brothers today reverses the decision

This comes after Gascón held a press conference in which he revealed that his office was re-evaluating the case after “new evidence” came to light.

Prosecutors argued at the time that there was no evidence of any abuse. They said the sons were after their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate.

“They tried to protect themselves the only way they knew how,” Andersen said. “Instead of being seen as victims, they were vilified.”

“They are no longer a threat to society,” he continued.

Menendez Brothers Press Conference: Closing Remarks

One of the members of Kyle and Erik Menendez’s legal team makes final remarks during a press conference in downtown Los Angeles.

The Menendez brothers have appealed their convictions several times over the years, without success.

Their lawyers argue that because of society’s changing views on sexual abuse, the brothers may not have been convicted of first-degree murder today and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Interest in the case has recently been renewed with the release of Netflix’s ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’ and an upcoming documentary, in which the brothers will tell their side of the story.