Menendez Brothers Resentencing Supported by Los Angeles DA
TRIAL OF BROTHERS LYLE & ERIK MENENDEZ, PARRICIDES (Photo by Ted Soqui/Sygma via Getty Images)
The Menendez brothers are closer and closer to freedom. In a Wednesday (October 24) press conference, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced he would be recommending that Lyle and Erik Menendez, the brothers known for the 1989 murder of their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez, be resentenced.
Lyle and Erik Menendez are currently serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
The announcement came amid growing support for the brothers, who never denied the murders, but said they acted in self-defense after enduring years of physical and sexual abuse by their father. Many of their supporters, including a large number of their close relatives, believe that if they’d been tried today, they would have received a much lighter sentence due to the growing understanding of child sexual abuse and trauma.
In the past few weeks, two very different points of view of the story of the brothers have been released on Netflix. Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, presents a fictionalized look at their case. The Menendez Brothers, meanwhile, consists of interviews with people close to the case, including the brothers.
“I believe they have paid their debt to society,” Gascón, noting the more than 30 years the brothers have served and pointing to “the things they have done to help the lives of others” while incarcerated.
Gascón will file the petition tomorrow for resentencing. A judge then gets to review the case and decide if the brothers will get a new trial, a lighter sentence, or a full release from prison. If eligible for parole, a parole board will decide on their release.
Their next court date is scheduled for November 26, 2024.
