Menendez Brothers Case: L.A. District Attorney Conducting “Review” Of Evidence From 1990s Trial, Parses Judgment On Resentencing & Original Proceedings
Back in the news with Ryan Murphy’s Netflix hit Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, the siblings’ sordid decades-old murder case today found itself in the spotlight again thanks to the Los Angeles County District Attorney.
Offering no insight or judgment on evidence from the Menendez brothers and a habeas petition for resentencing, DA George Gascón strode in front of the microphones Thursday to declare his office is “reviewing” the case.
More from Deadline
“We’re not saying that there was anything wrong with the original trial,” the re-election-seeking Gascón added, noting that the DA’s office has “been given evidence” on the 1989 killings of Jose and Kitty Menendez by their sons. The politically embattled DA’s time in front of the cameras today occurred just as criminal justice advocate and frequent Ryan Murphy collaborator Kim Kardashian released a letter to NBC News asking that “Erik and Lyle Menendez’s life sentences are reconsidered.”
A November 29 hearing has been set on the petition by brothers Erik, 55, and Lyle, 56, that they were the subject of sexual abuse by their music industry exec father, as was at least one member of the boy band Menudo. Depending on the outcome of that hearing and any self-declared “final” decision by Gascón, the brothers could be freed or go through a new trial 35 years after the shotgun murders of their parents.
“We are not, at this point, ready to say that we are of the belief or do not believe that information,” said DA Gascón in the abruptly called press conference Thursday. “But we’re here to tell you is that we have a moral and an ethical obligation to review what is being presented to us and make a determination based on a resentencing side, whether they deserve to be resentenced, even though they were clearly the murderers.”
After a televised and media-frenzied initial trial ended with deadlocked juries in early 1994, both brothers were convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Since then, a plethora of books, articles, true-crime shows and films have re-examined and relitigated the case. Most recently, the Peacock series Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed reopened the sexual abuse allegations and widened the scope of Jose Menendez’s alleged crimes.
Refusing to be pinned down on what could happen next and the “validity” of the new-ish evidence, Gascón said this afternoon that he was “not here to make judgment of that, but there is no question that today there would have been a greater level of sensitivity to the way the case was looked at.”
Grabbing the media’s attention today, Gascón’s presser came as the incumbent DA, who is struggling in the polls, prepares for an October 8 debate with challenger Nathan Hochman.
At present, extremely well-financed ex-U.S. Assistant Attorney General Hochman holds a double-digit lead over Gascón heading into next month’s election. Still, as today made clear, former San Francisco Police chief and Bay Area DA Gascón is very media savvy. That skill was deftly on display in his rebuffing of both attempts to recall him since taking office in 2020.
Best of Deadline
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
