Prosecutor calls for new sentence for Menendez brothers who murdered parents | Al Jazeera News

Prosecutors in the United States have recommended that Lyle and Erik Menendez be resentenced for the murder of their parents after new evidence emerged of sexual abuse by their father.

The brothers have been behind bars for 34 years, serving life sentences for shooting their father and mother in their home in Beverly Hills, California, in an infamous case that was recently the subject of a documentary.

They were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1989 murders.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon said Thursday his office would recommend overturning the brothers' convictions and sentencing them to 50 years to life in prison.

Because they were under 26 at the time of the crime, they were immediately eligible for parole, he said.

“I'm at a point where I believe resentencing is appropriate under the law,” Gascon told reporters.

“It is important to understand that our own implicit and sometimes explicit biases when it comes to sexual abuse and sexual assault often lead to serious injustices in our community,” he said.

Gascon added that some members of his office opposed the decision to recommend resentencing.

They were afraid that their parents would kill them

Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, admitted they fatally shot their father, entertainment executive Jose Menendez, and mother, Kitty Menendez, in the den of their Beverly Hills mansion.

The brothers said they feared their parents would kill them to prevent people from finding out that Jose Menendez had sexually abused Erik Menendez for years.

The Menendez brothers were tried twice for the murders, with the first trial ending in a hung jury.

Prosecutors at the time argued that there was no evidence of harassment and that many details in her story of sexual abuse were not admitted in the second trial.

They argued that the motive for the murders was the family's multimillion-dollar fortune.

The brothers unsuccessfully appealed their convictions.

The Menendez case recently gained new attention after Netflix began streaming the true-crime drama series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”

Prosecutors are examining a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin when he was 13, which his lawyers say supports allegations that he was sexually abused by his father.

There is also evidence from Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin pop group Menudo, who also revealed in a 2023 Peacock film that he was twice drugged and raped by the brothers' father as a teenager in the 1980s became.

Menudo was signed to RCA Records, which was managed by Jose Menendez.

These allegations are part of the evidence detailed in the Menendez brothers' attorney's motion to review their case filed last year.

Family support

The brothers' extended family has pleaded for their release.

At a recent news conference, several family members said the brothers' conviction in 1996 came at a time when people didn't want to hear about sexual abuse.

“If Lyle and Erik's case were tried today, and given the understanding we now have about abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder, there is no doubt in my mind that their sentencing would have been very different,” said Anamaria Baralt, a cousin of the brothers.

However, some family members believe they should remain in prison. Kitty Menendez's brother, Milton Andersen, 90, filed a plea asking the court to uphold the brothers' original sentence.

“They shot her mother, Kitty, while reloading to ensure her death,” Andersen’s lawyers said in a statement. “The evidence remains overwhelmingly clear: the jury’s verdict was fair and the sentence fits the heinous crime.”

Gascon told reporters that despite their life sentences in prison, the brothers were working toward redemption and rehabilitation.

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