Eric and Lyle Menendez will have a new day in court on December 11th in the District of Los Angeles County. Atty. Georges Gascón will ask a judge to express his outrage over the brutal murder of his parents, opening the door for them to be released after 35 years in prison.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jessick weighs in on the district attorney’s proposal to change the sentences of brothers Jose and Kitty Menendez in the 1989 shotgun killings of brothers inside their Beverly Hills home. A hearing date was set for that day in Van Nuys. After a mistrial, the two were found guilty of special circumstances murder at a second trial in 1996 and were ineligible for parole.
Gascón said last week that he would seek a second count of simple murder because the brothers were under 26 when they committed the murders. This makes the brothers eligible for parole.
The brothers are also scheduled to have a hearing on their habeas petition on Nov. 25, according to attorney Mark Geragos.
Geragos said he will ask the judge to sentence him to manslaughter at a hearing in November. This could lead to immediate release. Geragos said he wants to bring his brothers home for Thanksgiving and asked Gov. Gavin Newsom for clemency. Governor Newsom acknowledged in a podcast over the weekend that he was considering the issue, and referenced the Netflix docudrama “Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez.”
“I met with the team that put the series together about nine months ago and they gave me a heads up,” Newsome said. “They said, ‘Watch what happens after this series comes out, because there’s going to be a lot more debate about whether these people should be released or whether they should be outraged. ’ And in not that many months, we’re here, rapidly taking off.”
Gascón’s announcement last week drew praise from his brother’s celebrity supporters and loved ones, but condemned by critics who believe it was designed to boost his faltering re-election bid. A voice rose. But as Gascón made clear at a news conference, the brothers’ hopes for release remain dependent on decisions by judges, the state parole board, Newsom and others, including the appointment of a new district attorney expected in December. It depends on.
In a 57-page motion released late Thursday, Gascón’s office said that given the exemplary behavior of the brothers in custody, they no longer pose a threat to public safety and should be released. He claimed that there was.
Both brothers married while in prison, earned college degrees and started programs that benefit other inmates, including meditation groups and a “green space” project, according to the motion. Correctional staff rarely had to discipline them, and only one assault charge was brought against the brothers during their nearly 30 years in prison, according to the motion.
In recent months, much of the attention on the brothers’ case has focused on their habeas petition, which seeks to overturn the convictions. Geragos argued that the brothers’ claims that the killings were motivated by years of sexual abuse by their father and not by the brothers’ desire to gain access to their inheritance quickly, as prosecutors argued at trial. New documents were submitted to support the claim.
But legal experts say the brothers may be able to take a more direct path to freedom by venting their outrage.
The case was assigned this week to Jessick, a Van Nuys court judge and former prosecutor. He could grant the plea right away, but is likely to hold a hearing where loved ones and prosecutors, many of whom oppose Gascón’s decision, can speak.
Gascon acknowledged Thursday that some prosecutors objected to blaming the brothers and that there was no “universal agreement” within his office on the case. Two sources with direct knowledge of Gascón’s thinking say another faction within the agency wants him to indict the brothers for involuntary manslaughter, and that if a judge grants the petition, he will be released immediately. It was supposed to be the target.
The officials requested anonymity to discuss the incident candidly. Experts said the measure was a bridge too far for the judges and could have backfired.
If Jesik grants the petition, it will be considered by the state parole board.
As of Oct. 23, the board had granted parole in about 31% of the cases it had heard and decided this year, according to data from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Still, Newsom could reject the parole board’s findings. Under California law, the governor can block the board’s decision to grant parole if he finds evidence that releasing the brothers would pose an “unreasonable risk to the public.”
A Newsom spokesperson referred questions about the Menendez brothers to the Department of Corrections.
Gascón’s decision could be overturned if he is no longer president by the time the court proceedings proceed. Gascon’s challenger in the November election, former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman, has a lead of up to 30 points among likely voters, according to some polls. Mr. Hochman has not taken a public position on Mr. Menendez’s case, but said he would review his decision to fire Mr. Gascon. If Gascón loses re-election on November 5, Hochman will take office on December 11.
“In that particular case, I analyzed thousands of pages of confidential prison records, records from both trials, and extensive exhibits, and examined the results of interviews with prosecutors, law enforcement, defense attorneys, experts, and the victim’s family. ” Hochman said in a statement. “Only then will I be in a position to properly assess whether a request for re-sentencing is warranted.”
Times staff writer Salvador Hernandez contributed to this report.
