Menendez brothers could have a chance at freedom as prosecutors announce new twist

Prosecutors in Los Angeles will recommend that Erik and Lyle Menendez be resentenced for the murder of their parents. The motion could provide the brothers with a chance at freedom after 34 years in jail.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon announced during a press conference that his office would recommend the brothers be sentenced to 50 years to life. Because they were under 26 years old at the time of the crimes, they will be eligible for parole immediately, he said.

“I came to a place where I believe, under the law, resentencing is appropriate,” Mr Gascon said.

READ MORE: ‘I’ve spent seven years here, got married and built a business - now I could lose it all’

Prosecutors will go to court on Friday to make the request but Mr Gascon said some members of his office oppose the decision and may be in court as the case proceeds. The Menendez brothers were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, admitted they fatally shot their entertainment executive father, Jose Menendez, and their mother Kitty Menendez at their Beverly Hills home in 1989.

The brothers said they feared their parents were about to kill them to stop people from finding out that Jose Menendez had sexually abused Erik Menendez for years. The brothers’ extended family has pleaded for their release, saying they deserve to be free after decades behind bars.

Several family members have said that in today’s world — which is more aware of the impact of sexual abuse — the brothers would not have been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life.

Multiple members of their extended family, including their aunt Joan Andersen VanderMolen, sat in the first few rows of Thursday’s news conference. Ms VanderMolen was Kitty Menendez’s sister and has publicly supported their release. Mark Geragos, an attorney for the brothers, was also there.

The Menendez brothers were tried twice for their parents’ murders, with the first trial ending in a hung jury. Prosecutors at the time contended that there was no evidence of molestation, and many details in their story of sexual abuse were not permitted in the second trial.

The district attorney’s office also said that the brothers were after their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate. Despite their life sentences, Mr Gascon said the brothers worked on redemption and rehabilitation inside prison.

“I believe that they have paid their debt to society,” he said.

Not all Menendez family members support resentencing. Attorneys for Milton Andersen, the 90-year-old brother of Kitty Menendez, filed a legal brief asking the court to keep the brothers’ original punishment.

“They shot their mother, Kitty, reloading to ensure her death,” Andersen’s attorneys said in a statement on Thursday.

“The evidence remains overwhelmingly clear: the jury’s verdict was just, and the punishment fits the heinous crime.”

The Menendez case has gained new traction in recent weeks after Netflix began streaming the true-crime drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.