Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón is now supporting the Menendez brothers’ bid for clemency from Gov. Gavin Newson, the embattled official stated on Wednesday when asserting that that, regardless of criticism that his push for the convicted killers launch is a political ploy in his reelection marketing campaign, he despatched a letter of help for the inmates to Sacramento this week.
Almost three many years after Erik and Lyle Menendez had been convicted of killing their mother and father contained in the den of their Beverly Hills mansion, Gascón introduced that he would search a decreased sentence for the brothers. The choice comes after proof uncovered by journalist Robert Rand of their cousin’s desk corroborated the brothers’ claims that they had been sexually abused as youngsters by their father. Their case sat dormant for years however was thrust again into the media highlight — not due to this main new piece of proof, however following Ryan Murphy’s polarizing hit Netflix collection, Monsters, which tells the Menendez household story and is centered across the 1989 killings of José and Kitty Menendez.
“I strongly support clemency for Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are currently serving sentences of life without the possibility of parole. They have respectively served 34 years and have continued their education and worked to create new programs to support the rehabilitation of fellow inmates,” Gascón stated in a press release.
Days earlier, Gascón had stated he deliberate to ask a decide to resentence the brothers, probably for manslaughter, which might see them instantly launched if that’s the decide’s choice; a court docket date has been set for Dec. 11 to listen to Gascón’s proposal to alter the brothers’ sentences. Nonetheless, the attraction for clemency launched by the brothers’ legal professional this week — which he instructed TMZ may see them launched in time for a Thanksgiving dinner reunion with prolonged household — would additionally remove the potential resentencing course of begun by Gascón.
That is all unfolding as the D.A. inches towards election day and his marketing campaign is 30 factors behind his challenger in a single ballot. In his 4 years as the district legal professional within the nation’s second-largest metropolis, progressive Gascón sought options for America’s mass incarceration dilemma that many deemed too lenient and stated fueled lawlessness and led to crimes dedicated with impunity. He fended off two recall makes an attempt since taking workplace in 2020 amid a wave of progressives who gained races nationwide that 12 months. Now, his probabilities appear razor skinny for re-election and it’s unclear why he’s specializing in a case that falls in step with his much-hated tendency towards leniency and releasing prisoners.
Critics have known as out Gascón’s deal with the Menendez case as a Hail Mary try at pulling votes for individuals who wish to see the mannequin prisoner brothers launched as quickly as doable, notably following the success of Monsters, which shot to the highest of Netflix’s most watched listing and remained there for weeks. The recognition of the collection, which courted loads of controversy for its shifting views on the brothers’ actions and attitudes (and for the recommendations of an incestuous romantic relationship between the 2), has led to a sea change in what number of are relating to how the authorized course of performed out of their case. Within the 30-plus years for the reason that brothers’ trials, a vernacular for publicly discussing sexual abuse has developed as views on who can declare victimhood have shifted; as their mid–90s court docket instances unfolded, the thought of whether or not a male may be raped by one other man was known as into query in court docket. In the meantime, the #MeToo motion has moved the general public towards believing, or a minimum of listening to out, victims and accusers in sexual assault instances.
In the meantime, Newsom mentioned the case touchdown on his desk on his podcast over the weekend. He indicated that that is the time of 12 months that clemency instances are reviewed and presumably authorized. He additionally stated he had early intel that an upcoming collection from star producer Murphy would draw outsized curiosity within the decades-old case. The present, notably, was impressed by a TikTok motion the place customers touted the brand new proof that urged José Menendez had additionally molested a member of the Nineteen Eighties boy band Menudo. This revelation was featured within the Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed docuseries produced for Peacock by Rand, the journalist and career-spanning devotee to the Menendez case and the identical man who found the letter which will quickly result in their freedom.
“I met with the team that put the series together about nine months ago, and they gave me a heads-up,” Newsom stated. “They said, ‘Watch and see what happens after this series is released because it’s going to generate a lot more conversation around whether these guys should be released or resentenced.’ And here we are, fast-tracked not so many months later.”
The brothers may also have a listening to on a habeas submitting on Nov. 25, the place their legal professional has stated he plans to ask for the decide to condemn the brothers for manslaughter. This might set off their fast launch from the San Diego-area jail the place they’ve been housed collectively as inmates for a number of years.
This isn’t to say that the discharge of the Menendez brothers is for certain or imminent. If clemency weren’t granted by Newsom and so they go along with the beforehand deliberate path to freedom, there’s an opportunity that the parole board wouldn’t approve their launch, as knowledge present simply 31 p.c of 2024 appeals have seen parole granted, in instances through which the board rendered a call. Then, Newsom may veto that call, as that’s inside his energy as governor.
And that is all presuming that Gascón’s challenger, within the probably occasion that he’s elected to workplace on Nov. 5, sees eye-to-eye with the present D.A. on the Menendez case.
