A Los Angeles prosecutor said on Thursday he would ask a judge to release Erik and Lyle Menendez on parole after nearly 35 years in prison for the shotgun murder of their parents, as new evidence emerged indicating they were sexually abused by their father for years.
The Menendez brothers, now 56 and 53, were convicted after the second of two highly publicized trials that captivated the US in the 1990s because of their wealth and privilege as the sons of a record company and entertainment industry executive.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon told a press conference he would recommend to a judge on Friday that their life sentences be replaced with a sentence of 50 years to life, and that they be eligible for parole immediately because of their young age at the time of the murders in 1989. Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18.
“I believe they have paid their debt to society,” Gascon said, noting their good behavior in prison.
But he said other prosecutors within his office opposed their release and might argue in an upcoming hearing in favor of keeping them in prison.
It was not immediately clear how long it would take the court to rule.
Some members of the extended Menendez family, including the sister of the murdered father, have urged that they be freed.
Jose Menendez was shot in the back of the head and Kitty Menendez was shot 15 times at their Beverly Hills home.
A recent Netflix series dramatizing their story revived interest in the case. Still, for more than a year defense lawyers have been in talks with prosecutors about vacating the sentence or seeking a new trial, citing new evidence that came to light supporting the brothers’ claim they had been molested.
In their first trial, which was televised and ended in a hung jury in 1994, the brothers testified they were sexually mistreated by both parents for years and were acting in self-defense, and that their father threatened to kill them if they revealed the abuse.
Prosecutors argued the pair were seeking their parents’ multimillion-dollar fortune.
A jury convicted them in a second trial that was not televised, but that same jury also spared them the death penalty, opting for life in prison without parole.
Gascon has said there is no doubt the brothers killed their parents but cited new evidence including a letter Erik Menendez purportedly wrote to a cousin eight months before the murders in which he described the abuse. Had the evidence been presented at trial the jury may have reached a different outcome, he said.
Gascon said he still considered the murders “horrible acts,” adding, “There is no excuse for murder.”
Investigators also are examining allegations from a member of the 1980s pop band Menudo who said he was abused by Jose Menendez. Those allegations were publicized last year in the Peacock documentary series “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.”
Gascon also said he was concerned by comments from a member of the prosecution team at the time that men could not be raped. “Since the original prosecution … our office has gained a deeper understanding of the complexities surrounding sexual violence,” he said in a statement.
Gascon previously said he would wait until a Nov. 26 court hearing to decide on the case, but he sped up the decision given the intense public interest.
He also faces a difficult re-election battle against challenger Nathan Hochman on Nov. 5.
On Thursday, Gascon denied politics had any role, saying his office had resentenced 332 other convicts as part of his policy of addressing “over-incarceration.”
