The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office on Thursday recommended the extradition of Erik and Lyle Menendez to give the brothers freedom after 34 years behind bars. District Attorney George Gascon said his office would recommend a new sentence of 50 years in prison with the possibility of parole for the brothers. As the brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they could be released immediately.
“When you look at the case of the Menendez brothers, you see two very young people, one was 19 and the other was 21, when they committed these terrible acts,” Gascon said. “I have come to a point where I believe the sentence is appropriate under the law.” Prosecutors filed the petition Thursday, and a hearing before a judge could take place within the next month.
The governor has the final say
If the judge agrees to sentence them, the state parole board will hold its own hearing to decide whether they should be released. If the committee recommends parole, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has 150 days to review the case and make a final decision.
IMAGO/Picturelux
Cooper Koch (c.) portrays Erik Menendez and Nicholas Chavez as his brother Lyle in the Netflix series
Increased interest through Netflix series
The US was in suspense for years over the murders of Kitty and Jose Menendez. The Menendez brothers’ murder case and trial received renewed media interest when US streaming service Netflix released a nine-part true crime series titled “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” in September.
The first trial against the brothers ended in an invalid verdict; On February 2, 1996, the jury convicted the brothers of first degree murder and sentenced them to life without parole.
New evidence
The Menendez brothers’ defense team could now see new evidence in a retrial to bolster the brothers’ position as victims of their father’s sexual abuse.
Among them is a letter Erik Menendez wrote to a cousin in 1988, a year before the murders. “It’s still happening Andy, but it’s worse for me now,” Menendez wrote. “(…) I don’t know when it will happen and it drives me crazy. Every night I lay awake thinking he would come in.”
The other testimony comes from a then-underage member of the 1980s Puerto Rican boy band Menudo. The band member claimed that Jose Menendez, who was working as an executive at the RCA record company at the time, drugged and raped him during a visit to Menendez’s home.
A divided family
Most of the brothers’ extended families campaigned for their release. Some members said that in today’s world – which is more aware of the impact of sexual abuse – Lyle and Erik would not be sentenced to life without parole for first degree murder. Anamaria Baralt, Jose Menendez’s niece, said the prosecutor’s “brave and necessary” decision means the two can finally begin to heal from the trauma of their past.
The opposition comes from Milton Andersen, the 90-year-old brother of Kitty Menendez: “They shot and reloaded their mother, Kitty, to ensure her death,” Andersen’s lawyers said in a statement Thursday. “The evidence remains overwhelmingly clear: the jury’s verdict was fair and the sentence fit the heinous crime.”