Resentencing recommended by a Los Angeles DA in Menendez brothers case

In an announcement today, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón recommended that the Menendez brothers should be resentenced. Noting that opinions on the matter in the office have been decidedly mixed, the DA said he believed “resentencing is appropriate,” ultimately recommending that life without the possibility of parole be removed, and that their sentences be altered to the standard 50 years to life for the murders of their parents—but added that, owing to their young age when the crimes were committed, they would be immediately eligible for parole.

Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1996 for the 1989 murders of their parents, José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez. For decades, the brothers have maintained that the murders were an act of self defense as the result of years of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse at the hands of their father.

The defense is now claiming they have new evidence in the case, which will be evaluated during a November 26 hearing. The evidence specifically relates to the brothers’ molestation claims. It may be backed up by a separate claim from one of the members of the boy band Menudo, who alleges that José Menendez, an executive of RCA Records at the time, had molested him as well (per Variety). Of course, all this renewed interest in the case is also coming from the latest season of Ryan Murphy’s Monsters series, which unspools a controversial version of the brothers’ story. Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez play Erik and Lyle respectively, with Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny cast as their parents. 

The show has been condemned by “virtually the entire extended family of Erik and Lyle Menendez,” as well as Erik himself. The family derided Murphy’s efforts as “a phobic, gross, anachronistic, serial episodic nightmare that is not only riddled with mistruths and outright falsehoods but ignores the most recent exculpatory revelations,” while Erik accused the showrunner of undermining “decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma” in favor of “disheartening slander.” Murphy, however, called the Netflix series  “the best thing that’s happened to the Menendez brothers in 30 years,” and shared the following statement in response to the critiques: “They are now being talked about by millions of people all over the world… We’re asking really difficult questions, and it’s giving these brothers another trial in the court of public opinion. From what I can tell, it’s really opened up the possibility that this evidence that they claim that they have, maybe that there is going to be a way forward for them.”