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A hearing date for the Menendez brothers has been set

Online Niel October 31, 2024

LOS ANGELES – Erik and Lyle Menendez, the brothers convicted of murdering their parents Jose and Kitty in 1989, have a hearing date.

The the Menendez brothers he will go before a judge on December 11. This comes after a meeting on Wednesday between prosecutors, the defense and the judge assigned to the case – LA County Superior Court Judge Michael V. Jesic.

At that hearing, Vesic will consider a petition to have the brothers 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.

Mark Geragos, the brothers’ attorney, plans to ask that their conviction be reduced to manslaughter during a Nov. 25 hearing based on a defense petition. If successful, they will be released immediately from prison because they have already served the maximum term for manslaughter.

In addition, Geragos said he plans to ask Governor Gavin Newsom to grant clemency to the brothers. If granted, the brothers could be free immediately.

“I strongly support clemency for Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are currently serving life sentences without the possibility of parole,” LA County District Attorney George 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.”

The breakthrough in the brothers’ case comes after Gascón recommended that the pair be sentenced after more than three decades in prison for the double murder of their parents.

Gascón’s office began reviewing new evidence in the case earlier this month and concluded that Erik and Lyle would not pose a threat to society if released.

“I think they’ve paid their dues,” he said.

If a judge approves Gascón’s recommendation, then it will be up to the state parole board to decide whether the brothers will be released.

The Menendez brothers were convicted in 1996 of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty, and ordered to serve life behind bars without the possibility of parole.

Erik and Lyle – who were 18 and 21 at the time of the murders – claimed they acted in self-defence after suffering years of physical and sexual abuse from their father. However, this defense was not allowed to be used in the second trial.

Interest in the case has recently been renewed with the release of the Netflix movie “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” of which Erik was highly critical.

“It saddens me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime has taken the painful truths a few steps back – back in time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative based on a belief system that men were not sexually abused. and that men experienced rape trauma differently than women,” Erik said in a statement posted on his behalf by his wife, Tammi, after the doctor’s release.

“I am grateful to DA (George) Gascón for his courage in seeking retribution for Erik, I am naturally disappointed that he did not go further and act on his own belief that Erik and Lyle had served enough time in prison” , Tammi said on X following the resentment recommendation.