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The Menenedez Brothers’ lawyer thinks they’ll be home for a major upcoming holiday after scoring a legal victory that could see them freed from prison after 35 years.
“I believe [that] before Thanksgiving, they will be home. I still believe that,” attorney Mark Geragos said during a press conference Thursday, October 24. It came after Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon recommended Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, be resentenced due to new evidence in their case, and that they have been model prisoners during their time behind bars.
Thanksgiving falls on November 28, and a Los Angeles Superior Court judge will hold a hearing on November 26, where they could reduce the prison time for Lyle and Erik, taking into account Gascon’s recommendation. The judge could also order a new trial be held in light of new evidence in the case.
A parole board will still need to examine the Menendez brothers’ case before they are freed, likely meaning they won’t be home in time for Thanksgiving even if everything goes their way legally.
Erik and Lyle were sentenced to life without parole in 1996 in connection with the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, inside their Beverly Hills home.
The brothers claimed in their first trial that they killed their parents in self-defense following years of sexual abuse by their father, while their mother turned a blind eye to the situation. The 1993 trial ended in a hung jury.
During their second trial, the judge excluded the majority of the sexual abuse testimony and only gave jurors the option of finding the brothers guilty of murder and not manslaughter, as the judge in the first trial did.
The siblings’ attorneys filed a habeas petition to the L.A. District Attorney’s office in May 2023, citing a letter Erik wrote to his cousin detailing alleged sexual abuse at the hands of his father, as well as an affidavit by former Menudo member Roy Rossello accusing Jose of sexual abuse as new evidence proving the brothers’ convictions should be vacated.
Gascon explained at his news conference how Lyle and Erik could be eligible for parole despite receiving life sentences.
“What that means in this particular case is that we’re going to recommend to the court that the life without the possibility of parole be removed and that they will be sentenced for murder, which, because there are two murders involved, that will be 50 years to life,” he said. “However, because of their age under the law, since they were under 26 years of age at the time that this crime has occurred, they will be eligible for parole immediately.”
Gascon added that the brothers have been model prisoners, and “even though they didn’t think that they would ever be let free, they engaged in a different journey: a journey of redemption and a journey of rehabilitation” while serving their sentence.
The D.A. concluded, “I believe that they have paid their debt to society, and the system provides a vehicle for their case to be reviewed by a parole board,” adding, “It’s up to the court to take it from there.”
English (US) ·