Lyle and Eric Menendez's chances at freedom are once again in jeopardy after voters ousted the progressive Los Angeles County district attorney who recommended they be indicted.
Georges Gascón, known as the godfather of progressive prosecutors, last month urged his office to make two brothers, now in their 50s, eligible for parole after spending more than 30 years in prison for shooting their wealthy parents to death in 1989. announced that it had made a recommendation. .
But on Tuesday, Gascón lost his re-election bid in a landslide to former federal prosecutor Nathan Hockman, who said he wanted to review the case for himself before proceeding.
“Before making any decisions regarding the Menendez brothers' case, we need to thoroughly learn the relevant facts, evidence, and law,” Hochman said in a statement Wednesday, according to the newspaper. independent person.
“We must examine each brother's confidential prison files, the records of both trials, and speak with prosecutors, law enforcement, defense attorneys, and the victims' families,” he added.
Mr. Hoffman, who successfully campaigned against Gascón's unpopular criminal justice reforms, is scheduled to be sworn in on Dec. 2, ahead of the Menendez brothers' hearing scheduled to consider Gascón's request. It was only nine days before.
“If we need additional time for any reason, we will ask the court for that time,” Hochman said.
Gascón announced last month that his office had been reviewing the brothers' cases anew for “more than a year” in light of new evidence showing that the brothers were routinely sexually abused by their father as children. said.
The final decision will be left to the judge, but Gascón said the murderers were on a “journey of redemption and rehabilitation” and that they were grateful for their time in prison and for all they had done for society. He said that he had “paid back to society.” Help others while in prison.
If the judge agrees with Gascón's recommendation, accusing the Menendez brothers of murder, their new sentences will change from life in prison without parole to 50 years to life in prison (25 years for each murder). It means to do something.
Because they were convicted before the age of 26, they would be immediately eligible for parole under California's Youth Offenders Act if counter-charged.
The two brothers killed their parents, Jose and Kitty, with shotguns in August 1989 as they watched television in their Beverly Hills mansion.
Eric and Lyle, then 21 and 18 years old respectively, were sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1996 for the brutal murder in a widely publicized trial.
The brothers' lawyers argued at trial that they acted in self-defense after years of sexual and physical abuse at the hands of their father, and there was also testimony from other family members to corroborate the accusations. Prosecutors said he was after his parents' $15 million fortune. The trial ended in a hung jury in 1994.
A second trial in 1995 convicted both brothers on two counts of first-degree murder after the judge ruled that the jury could not hear much of the testimony regarding the sexual abuse allegations. It ended.
The case has largely been out of the spotlight as both brothers served time in prison, but Netflix's new series Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez has brought renewed interest to the brothers and the murders. Ta.
