The Menendez brothers could be set free after Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón recommended they receive a new sentence in a press conference on Thursday.
Gascón explained that the brothers should have their time in prison resentenced to make them eligible for parole immediately.
“I believe they have paid their debt to society…and the system provides a vehicle for their case to be reviewed by a court of law,” he said.
This comes after interest in the historic case has skyrocketed thanks to Ryan Murphy’s second installment of his Netflix Monster anthology series based on their lives, which dropped on September 19.
Monster: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story stars Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny as Erik and Lyle’s parents, Jose and Kitty, whom the brothers murdered in August 1989.
At the time, they made a call to the police claiming they had found their parents dead in their Beverly Hills home until new evidence led to their arrests and subsequent 1996 trial.
© NetflixSince the show premiered, there has been mounting pressure to release Erik and Lyle as public sympathy grows for them after learning of the alleged abuse their father subjected them to.
“They have been in prison for nearly thirty five years,” Gascón said on Thursday. “I believe that they have paid their debt to society.”
Despite Gascón’s belief that they should walk free, he revealed that many of his staff are not on the same page.
© Getty“We don’t have a universal agreement. There are people in the office that strongly believe they should stay in prison the rest of their life; they do not believe they were molested,” he said.
“And there are people in the office that strongly believe they should be released immediately,” he continued. Gascón detailed his plans to push for a resentencing for Erik and Lyle at the press conference.
“After careful review, I came to a place where I believe that resentencing is appropriate,” he said.
© Getty“I am going to recommend that to a court tomorrow. What that means is that we’re going to recommend to the court that life without possibility of parole be removed, and they be sentenced for murder, which, because there were two murders involved, that’s fifty years to life.”
He continued: “But under the law, because at the time they were under 26 at the time these crimes occurred, they will be eligible for parole immediately.”
Another factor in their possible release is that the brothers claim to have been rehabilitated in prison, with their attorneys providing reference letters and records to back this claim.
© Los Angeles TimesOne reference letter read: “It is exceedingly rare to encounter an individual who, despite facing a life sentence without the possibility of parole, has dedicated himself to personal growth, the betterment of his fellow inmates, and overall stability of the prison environment.”
Erik and Lyle’s remaining family are deeply divided over this turn of events; Kitty’s sister, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, believes they should be set free as “Their actions, while tragic, were the desperate response of two boys trying to survive the unspeakable cruelty of their father.”
She continued: “The truth is, Lyle and Erik were failed by the very people who should have protected them— their parents, the system, and society at large.”
© Mario TamaKitty’s brother remains steadfastly against their freedom, releasing a statement which read: “Mr Andersen is not in support of resentencing the Menendez brothers…he believes that [they] should remain, and he is certainly entitled to his opinion. He is entitled to have his concerns and thoughts considered, but he has been ignored by Gascón.“
The matter will now sit with a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge to decide whether they are eligible for resentencing.
