Nearly three decades ago, Los Angeles prosecutors argued that Erik and Lyle Menéndez were cold-blooded killers who violently murdered their parents for money, and asked that they be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
This week, in an extraordinary turn of events for the brothers, the Los Angeles district attorney said he will recommend they be resentenced – a decision that could lead to their release.
“They have been in prison for nearly 35 years. I believe that they have paid their debt to society,” George Gascón, the Los Angeles DA, said during a packed Thursday press conference at the city’s hall of justice.
Gascón said he would ask they instead be sentenced to 50 years to life in prison, a recommendation that – because of their young age at the time of the killings – means they would be eligible for parole.
The news was celebrated by family members, several of whom sat in the front row during the announcement, as well as the brothers’ massive community of supporters on social media, and high-profile criminal justice advocates like Kim Kardashian.
It’s a development that for so long seemed impossible – Erik and Lyle Menéndez were sentenced to two consecutive life terms in 1996 after a jury found them guilty of first-degree murder in the killings of their parents, José and Kitty. Lyle, 21, and Erik, 18, shot their parents multiple times as they watched television in their Beverly Hills home in August 1989.
Erik is now 53 and Lyle is 56.
The brothers said they feared their parents were going to kill them to cover up the years of sexual, psychological and physical abuse they had suffered. Prosecutors accused the brothers of lying and portrayed them as greedy rich kids eager for their multimillion-dollar inheritance – a narrative that long persisted in pop culture. They were tried twice, and testimony about their abuse was limited in the second trial.
Earlier this month, Gascón said his office would review new evidence in the case, including a letter written by Erik before the killings that corroborated his allegations of abuse and an allegation by a former member of the band Menudo who said that José Menéndez, previously an executive at RCA records, had raped him.
Gascón emphasized how societal attitudes around male victims of sexual abuse have changed, and that there is greater recognition that “both men and women can be the victims of sexual assault”. He expressed concern that the state may have exhibited implicit bias in a manner that affected how the case was presented, citing a comment from one prosecutor “how men cannot be raped”.
There is no question the brothers committed the killing, he told CNN. “The question is to what degree of culpability should they be held accountable to, given the totality of the circumstance.”
The district attorney’s announcement that he would review the case came as a more sympathetic view of the brothers emerged in recent years due in part to viral TikTok videos during the pandemic that focused on the abuse the brothers faced. The story has long remained in the public eye, but numerous documentaries and TV shows, including Ryan Murphy’s Monsters, intensified public interest and the district attorney’s office was flooded with inquiries, Gascón said.
Kardashian penned an essay calling for the brothers’ release, pointing to the abuse they had suffered – Lyle said his father began abusing him when he was six years old, while Erik said his father raped him for more than a decade – and their behavior in prison. The brothers have earned college degrees, served as mentors and provided hospice care to elderly people in prison.
“I have spent time with Lyle and Erik; they are not monsters. They are kind, intelligent, and honest men,” Kardashian wrote.
The Los Angeles district attorney’s office was deeply divided, Gascón said, with some prosecutors arguing the brothers should remain in prison and others advocating for their release. After reviewing the arguments on both sides, the district attorney said, he decided on Thursday, shortly before the press conference, that the brothers should be resentenced.
“We’re going to recommend to court that the life without out the possibility of parole be removed,” he said. “They will be eligible for parole immediately. “I do believe the brothers were subjected to a tremendous amount of dysfunction in the home and molestation.”
Still, he didn’t believe manslaughter was an appropriate charge and described the killings as premeditated. But the brothers, he argued, undertook a journey of redemption and rehabilitation and will be safe to re-enter society.
Judge William C Ryan will consider the recommendation next month, and if he agrees, the brothers will go before the parole board.
The timing of Gascón’s announcement drew some criticism – a poll earlier this month showed that the district attorney was lagging far behind a challenger in his re-election race. But Gascón said the decision was not political and said his office has sought to resentence more than 300 people during his tenure.
But for family members who have long advocated for the brothers, the news brought hope.
“This decision is not just a legal matter – it is a recognition of the abuse my cousins endured and we are grateful for the DA’s leadership in putting justice over politics,” said Karen VanderMolen, Kitty’s niece. “It is time for Erik and Lyle to come home.”
