Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón is now supporting the Menendez brothers’ bid for clemency from Gov. Gavin Newson, the embattled official said on Wednesday when announcing that that, despite criticism that his push for the convicted killers release is a political ploy in his reelection campaign, he sent a letter of support for the inmates to Sacramento this week.
Nearly three decades after Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted of killing their parents inside the den of their Beverly Hills mansion, Gascón announced that he would seek a reduced sentence for the brothers. The decision comes after evidence uncovered by journalist Robert Rand in their cousin’s desk corroborated the brothers’ claims that they were sexually abused as children by their father. Their case sat dormant for years but was thrust back into the media spotlight — not because of this major new piece of evidence, but following Ryan Murphy’s polarizing hit Netflix series, Monsters, which tells the Menendez family story and is centered around the 1989 killings of José and Kitty Menendez.
“I strongly support clemency for Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are currently serving sentences of life without the possibility of parole. They have respectively served 34 years and have continued their education and worked to create new programs to support the rehabilitation of fellow inmates,” Gascón said in a statement.
Days earlier, Gascón had said he planned to ask a judge to resentence the brothers, potentially for manslaughter, which would see them immediately released if that is the judge’s decision; a court date has been set for Dec. 11 to hear Gascón’s proposal to change the brothers’ sentences. However, the appeal for clemency launched by the brothers’ attorney this week — which he told TMZ could see them released in time for a Thanksgiving dinner reunion with extended family — would also eliminate the potential resentencing process begun by Gascón.
This is all unfolding as the D.A. inches toward election day and his campaign is 30 points behind his challenger in one poll. In his four years as the district attorney in the nation’s second-largest city, progressive Gascón sought solutions for America’s mass incarceration dilemma that many deemed too lenient and said fueled lawlessness and led to crimes committed with impunity. He fended off two recall attempts since taking office in 2020 amid a wave of progressives who won races nationwide that year. Now, his chances seem razor thin for re-election and it’s unclear why he’s focusing on a case that falls in line with his much-hated tendency toward leniency and releasing prisoners.
Critics have called out Gascón’s focus on the Menendez case as a Hail Mary attempt at pulling votes for those who want to see the model prisoner brothers released as soon as possible, particularly following the success of Monsters, which shot to the top of Netflix’s most watched list and remained there for weeks. The popularity of the series, which courted plenty of controversy for its shifting perspectives on the brothers’ actions and attitudes (and for the suggestions of an incestuous romantic relationship between the two), has led to a sea change in how many are regarding how the legal process played out in their case. In the 30-plus years since the brothers’ trials, a vernacular for publicly discussing sexual abuse has developed as perspectives on who can claim victimhood have shifted; as their mid–90s court cases unfolded, the idea of whether a male can be raped by another man was called into question in court. Meanwhile, the #MeToo movement has moved the public toward believing, or at least hearing out, victims and accusers in sexual assault cases.
Meanwhile, Newsom discussed the case landing on his desk on his podcast over the weekend. He indicated that this is the time of year that clemency cases are reviewed and possibly approved. He also said he had early intel that an upcoming series from star producer Murphy would draw outsized interest in the decades-old case. The show, notably, was inspired by a TikTok movement where users touted the new evidence that suggested José Menendez had also molested a member of the 1980s boy band Menudo. This revelation was featured in the Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed docuseries produced for Peacock by Rand, the journalist and career-spanning devotee to the Menendez case and the same man who discovered the letter that may soon lead to their freedom.
“I met with the team that put the series together about nine months ago, and they gave me a heads-up,” Newsom said. “They said, ‘Watch and see what happens after this series is released because it’s going to generate a lot more conversation around whether these guys should be released or resentenced.’ And here we are, fast-tracked not so many months later.”
The brothers will also have a hearing on a habeas filing on Nov. 25, where their attorney has said he plans to ask for the judge to sentence the brothers for manslaughter. This could trigger their immediate release from the San Diego-area prison where they have been housed together as inmates for several years.
This is not to say that the release of the Menendez brothers is certain or imminent. If clemency were not granted by Newsom and they go with the previously planned route to freedom, there’s a chance that the parole board would not approve their release, as data show just 31 percent of 2024 appeals have seen parole granted, in cases in which the board rendered a decision. Then, Newsom could veto that decision, as that’s within his power as governor.
And this is all presuming that Gascón’s challenger, in the likely event that he is elected to office on Nov. 5, sees eye-to-eye with the current D.A. on the Menendez case.
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