By james art Although Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon announced his recommendation that Eric and Lyle Menendez be sentenced and immediately eligible for parole, it will take multiple steps that could take months, if not longer, to actually release them .
The brothers were convicted of the 1989 murders of their parents at their family estate in Beverly Hills.
Gascón cited new evidence of alleged sexual abuse by their father to make the recommendation, a decision he said was made shortly before he spoke to reporters at a news conference on Thursday, October 24.
It will first be up to a judge to decide whether to resentence the Menendez brothers, but it is unclear when a hearing on that matter might be held.
If a judge rules in favor of the re-conviction, a state parole board would have to set a date on which they are eligible for a parole hearing, with that hearing taking place no less than six months “as required by the notification provisions and other mandates,” said Pedro Calderon Michel, deputy press secretary for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Gascon said Thursday that because of their ages at the time of the crime, they will automatically be eligible for parole.
Finally, if a parole board approves the brothers’ release, Gov. Gavin Newsom could overrule the board’s decision.
Eric Menendez, now 53, and Lyle Menendez, now 56, have been in state prison since 1996 after being convicted in Los Angeles Superior Court of two counts of murder and conspiracy to commit a crime in the murders of Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez.
They were 18 and 21 years old at the time of the murder.
Although Gascon made the recommendation to review the sentence, he acknowledged Thursday that there are dissidents in his office and expects some of them may go to court to challenge the recommendation, saying they “have the right to do so “.
Gascon is in the midst of a re-election race and the timing of his decision raised questions from some, including his opponent Nathan Hochman.
“By publishing it now, Gascon has cast a cloud over the fairness and impartiality of his decision, leaving Angelenos to question whether the decision was right and fair or just another desperate political move by a prosecutor running a losing campaign, struggling to grab headlines through a decision made for television,” Hochman said in a statement following Gascon’s announcement. “Angelenos and everyone involved deserve better.”
The case has attracted renewed public interest following the release of two documentaries, including one from Netflix, Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Eric Menendez.
Prosecutors said the killings were financially motivated, with the brothers spending lavishly after the killings.
The brothers have never denied committing the murders, but claim they were repeatedly sexually assaulted by their father and feared for their lives.
The first trial ended with the jury unable to reach a verdict. They were convicted after a second trial in 1995, which lacked much of the testimony centered on allegations of sexual abuse.
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