LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A pair of court hearings will be held in November and December to consider various motions that could lead to the release of Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are serving life in prison without parole for their slayings rifle in 1989. parents in their mansion in Beverly Hills.

On Wednesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic scheduled a hearing for Dec. 11 to consider a request submitted by the Prosecutor’s Office asking that the brothers be sentenced to 50 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Given the brothers’ ages at the time of the crime, such a move would potentially make them eligible for immediate parole as young offenders, even though they have only served about 35 years behind bars.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos said a Nov. 25 hearing was also set for a defense petition to reconsider the case, and said he would ask during that hearing that the brothers be convicted of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter and be immediately released from prison.

“The district attorney is recommending a sentence of 50 years to life, which would make them immediately eligible for parole,” Geragos told KNX News Wednesday afternoon. “We’re going to ask the judge to exercise his ability to not only recall the (current) sentence, but to sentence them to a lesser included (offence), which is voluntary manslaughter, and give them the term.”

He told the station if things go in the defense team’s favor, the brothers could be home in time for the holiday season.

“That’s one of the reasons we’ve set a date for November and a backup date for December, so we’re hopeful,” he said.

Meanwhile, the defense team filed papers with Gov. Gavin Newsom asking for clemency for the Menendez brothers. On Wednesday, prosecutor George Gascón said he would support that request.

“I strongly support clemency for Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are currently serving life sentences without the possibility of parole,” Gascón said in a statement. “They turned 34 and continued their education and worked to create new programs to support the rehabilitation of their fellow inmates.”
Gascón announced last week that his office would ask that the brothers be convicted. Prosecutors then filed a 56-page motion, saying the brothers had “demonstrated exceptional post-conviction conduct, a critical factor in evaluating their suitability for release” and had “demonstrated that they no longer pose a risk to public safety… so that their current sentence is no longer in support of justice”.

Watch: LA County Prosecutor’s Office Praises Menendez Brothers’ Good Behavior in Jail

LA County DA points out Menendez brothers’ good behavior in prison

Erik Menendez, 53, and Lyle Menendez, 56, who claimed they were sexually abused by their father, are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of their parents, Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty.” in Beverly Hills. mansion on August 20, 1989.

It will be up to the judge to decide whether to actually sentence the pair.

If a judge agrees with the District Attorney’s proposed sentence, the matter will then be in the hands of a state parole board to determine whether the brothers are eligible for parole and release from prison. If the board grants parole, the governor could still reject it.
It would be up for debate whether a judge would agree to Geragos’ appeal that the brothers be sentenced to time already served on a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

The District Attorney’s file notes that at the time of the murder, Erik was an 18-year-old preparing to attend UCLA in the fall, and Lyle Menendez was a 21-year-old student at Princeton University.

Prosecutors wrote that “the childhood abuse and trauma suffered by both defendants in this case is sufficient to warrant judicial consideration” under a new law that allows for resentencing in certain cases.

“Both men have made incredible contributions to the prison system as a whole and to their fellow inmates on a very personal level. Erik and Lyle Menendez have done and continue to do their good works and contributions, done without any expectation or hope of ever being. released,” according to the file. “They have used their incarceration time well and are now showing that they are not a risk to public safety. Erik and Lyle Menendez both deserve a lesser sentence.”

In court papers filed last year, the brothers’ lawyers pointed to two new pieces of evidence they say corroborate the brothers’ allegations of long-term sexual abuse by their father — a letter Erik Menendez wrote to one of his cousins. in early 1989, eight months before the August 1989 murders, and recent allegations by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, that he was sexually abused by Jose Menendez as a teenager.

ABC News/LA District Attorney

The Menendez case has been the subject of renewed public interest since the release of a recent Netflix documentary.

The brothers never denied committing the crimes, but claimed they were repeatedly sexually assaulted by their father and feared for their lives.

However, during their trials, prosecutors said the murders were financially motivated, pointing to the brothers’ lavish spending after the killings and arguing they were guilty of first-degree murder.

The brothers’ first trial ended with jurors unable to reach verdicts, deadlocked between first-degree murder and lesser charges, including manslaughter. The second trial, which began in October 1995 and featured much testimony centered on allegations of sexual abuse by Jose Menendez, ended with both brothers convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy.
The brothers repeatedly appealed their convictions to no avail.

Court papers filed by defense attorneys last year included a copy of a handwritten letter allegedly sent by Erik Menendez to his cousin, Andy Cano. Lawyers say the letter was only recently discovered by Cano’s mother. Cano, who died of a drug overdose in 2003, testified in the brothers’ first trial that Erik Menendez told him about his father’s molestation when Erik was 13, according to court documents.

In the letter, Erik Menendez writes in part: “I tried to avoid dad. It still happens Andy, but now it’s worse for me. I can’t explain it… I never know when it will happen. and it drives me crazy every night I think it might come in. I have to get it out of my head.

Defense lawyers also cited allegations that emerged last year in a Peacock documentary series in which Rosselló — a former member of the boy band Menudo — alleged that Jose Menendez drugged and sexually assaulted him when he was approximately 14 years during a visit. at the Menendez home in New Jersey in 1983 or 1984.

Watch: LA County DA explains his office did not make resentencing decision unanimously

LA County DA: The office did not make Menendez’s decision unanimously

Jose Menendez was an executive at RCA Records, which signed Menudo to a recording contract.

“I know what he did to me in his house,” Rosselló said on the show. In another segment, he shows a picture of Jose Menendez and says, “That’s the man over here who raped me. This is the pedophile”.

A statement from Rosselló — who also claims Menendez sexually assaulted him on two other occasions in New York — was attached to court papers filed on behalf of the Menendez brothers last year.

Lawyers for the Menendez brothers argued that the new evidence justified reopening the case.

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