Prosecutors seek repentance for Menendez brothers who killed their parents

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LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors will suggest Erik and Lyle Menendez were angry about the 1989 murder of their parents at the family’s Beverly Hills home, giving the brothers a chance at freedom after 34 years behind bars.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon announced at a press conference Thursday that his office will recommend that the brothers be sentenced to 50 years to life in prison. Because they were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for immediate parole, he said.

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“I’ve come to a place where I believe it’s legal to be angry,” Gascon said. He said some members of his office opposed the decision.

Prosecutors will file the petition on Friday, and a hearing could be held before a judge as soon as next month.

The Menendez brothers were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1996.

Lyle Menendez, 21, and Erik Menendez, 18, admitted to fatally shooting their entertainment executive father, Jose Menendez, and their mother, Kitty Menendez. The siblings said they feared their parents were about to kill themselves to keep people from finding out Jose Menendez had been sexually abusing Erik Menendez for years.

The brothers’ extended family has demanded their release, saying they deserve to be free after decades behind bars. Some members of the family said that in today’s world, where the impact of sexual abuse is more aware, the brothers would not be convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Many members of their extended family, including their aunt Joan Andersen VanderMolen, sat in the first few rows of Thursday’s press conference. VanderMolen was Kitty Menendez’s sister and publicly supported their release. The brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos, was also there.

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Anamaria Baralt, Jose Menendez’s niece, said the district attorney’s “brave and necessary” decision means “Lyle and Erik can finally begin to heal from the trauma of their past.”

The Menendez brothers were tried twice for the murder of their parents, with the first trial ending in a hung jury.

Prosecutors at the time argued there was no evidence of abuse and that many details of the sexual abuse story were not allowed at the second trial. The district attorney’s office also said at the time that the brothers were after their parents’ millions of dollars in property.

District attorney believes Erik and Lyle ‘paid their debt’

Gascón said he made his final decision just an hour before the news conference, and family members were notified only minutes beforehand.

Even though they were sentenced to life in prison, the brothers worked towards redemption and rehabilitation in prison, Gascón said.

“I believe they have paid their debt to society,” he said.

Not all members of the Menendez family support resentment. Lawyers for Kitty Menendez’s 90-year-old brother, Milton Andersen, have filed a legal brief asking the court to preserve the brothers’ original sentence. “They shot their mother, Kitty, while reloading to ensure her death,” Andersen’s lawyers said in a statement Thursday. “The evidence is crystal clear: The jury’s verdict was fair and the sentence fits this heinous crime.”

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Although Kitty Menendez is not accused of abusing her sons, she appears to have facilitated the abuse, according to her sons’ legal filings. At the brothers’ first trial, a cousin testified that Lyle told her he was too scared to sleep in his room because his father would come in and touch his genitals. When the cousin told this to Kitty Menendez, Kitty “angrily dragged Lyle up by his arm,” the petition said.

Another family member testified that while Jose Menendez was in his bedroom with one of the children, no one was allowed to pass through the hallway outside.

Could an election change the course again?

The Los Angeles district attorney is in the midst of a tough reelection fight against former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman, who blames Gascon’s progressive reform policies for a recent spate of high-profile murders and rising retail crime.

Gascón said Thursday that his office has recommended resentencing nearly 300 criminals, including those behind bars for murder.

On Thursday, Hochman questioned the timing of Gascon’s announcement; It came less than two weeks before the election and called it a “desperate political move”.

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He said he could not form his own opinion on the case without access to confidential records and relevant witnesses.

“If I were the prosecutor and the case was still pending at that time, I would conduct a review consistent with how I would review each case,” Hochman said.

The Menendez case has gained new attention in recent weeks after Netflix began streaming the true crime drama “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”

Among the evidence in the prosecution’s review is a letter written by Erik Menendez, which his lawyers say confirms his claims that he was sexually abused by his father.

Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin pop group Menudo, also recently came forward to say he was drugged and raped by the boys’ father, Jose Menendez, as a teenager in the 1980s.

Menudo was signed under RCA Records, which was managed by Jose Menendez at the time.

Rossello talked about his abuse in the 2023 Peacock docuseries “Menendez + Menudo: The Boys Betrayed.” His allegations are part of the evidence listed in a petition filed by the Menendez brothers’ attorney last year seeking review of their case. The claim that Rossello was raped twice by Jose Menendez is included in the Menendez brothers’ petition. ___ This story corrects the spelling of Milton Andersen’s name. Not Anderson.

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