The Menendez brothers could soon be freed from prison, a possibility that didn’t exist when they exhausted all of their appeals more than a decade ago.
Joseph Menendez, who goes by his middle name Lyle, and younger brother Erik Menendez have been in California prisons since 1996, serving sentences of life without the possibility of parole for their parents’ 1989 slayings.
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón this week took a major step toward reducing their sentences, and if the court approves, they could be eligible for parole immediately.
The brothers claim they shot their father, former RCA Records executive Jose Menendez, in self-defense, arguing they thought he was going to kill them after they warned him they planned to expose him as a child sex abuser. They also killed their mother, Mary “Kitty” Menendez, who was sitting next to Jose eating ice cream in their Beverly Hills living room when they opened fire.
MENENDEZ BROTHERS PROSECUTOR ANNOUNCES RESENTENCING DECISION
Their first trial ended in a mistrial, when jurors couldn’t agree on their fate. After a second trial in the mid-1990s, in which some of their evidence about the alleged sexual abuse was excluded, jurors agreed with prosecutors that their motive was greed.
New evidence that could corroborate their sex abuse claims has yet to be examined by a court, but those claims helped push Gascón toward requesting reduced sentences for the brothers, he told reporters Thursday.
WATCH: Los Angeles DA to recommend reduced sentences for Menendez brothers
TIMELINE OF THE MENENDEZ BROTHERS’ MURDER CASE
The DA formally made the request in court Friday for the sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole to be reduced to 50 years to life in prison.
Here’s what happens next:
- The judge will either accept Gascón’s recommendation or reject it, depending on whether he believes the brothers have been rehabilitated or if their release is in the interest of justice.
- If he agreed to hand down a new sentence, he wouldn’t be bound by the one presented to him and could choose something different.
- If the judge reduces the sentence, the brothers could become eligible for parole because they were under 26 at the time of the crime and have served over 25 years already.
- State corrections officials say the parole board would then have six months to schedule parole hearings.
- If the parole board agrees they should go free, then the case goes to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has final say.
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If they do get out, a logical next step is figuring out how to make a living. Although state law bars them from collecting any inheritance they would have received from their victims, they have a few prospects already.
“The Menendez murders are on the Mount Rushmore of high-profile, almost legendary — if that’s even an appropriate description — murders in American history, right up there with the JFK assassination, the Manson/Mansfield killings and Robert Durst,” said Doug Eldridge, a celebrity brand expert and the founder of Achilles PR.
“There is name recognition across at least two generations and would be a draw even with a younger audience that isn’t familiar with the backstory but leans into the genre.”
He told Fox News Digital they could immediately pick up a documentary deal with a streaming giant like Netflix for their first paycheck.
The brothers may be better off financially and emotionally if they control the narrative themselves and take ownership of any projects they do, said pop culture expert Perez Hilton, who said he would jump at the chance to interview either of the brothers if they got out.
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Hilton also predicted that at least one of them might end up divorced after signing up for social media, which didn’t exist when they went to prison in the summer of 1996. Both of them married while behind bars.
“Imagine that, like all of a sudden you’ve been locked in prison for 34-plus years. You married someone because you never thought you were going to get out. Then, all of a sudden, you’re free,” Hilton told Fox News Digital. “You’re on social media. You quickly learn the ways of social media and, the thing is, even while in prison, they had women sending them letters. That’s how they met their wives. … Their DMs are going to be flooded.”
Lyle Menendez previously gave a public hint at what he plans on doing if he is released.
The elder Menendez brother said he’s been studying for a master’s degree and working on how he might reintegrate with society when he called into a live interview with lawyer Mark Geragos at CrimeCon 2024 in Nashville.
“Well, I’m hoping that … I’ve had these discussions with corrections officials who are in charge of letting formerly incarcerated people return to the prisons to do good work, and they are definitely open to and would like me to continue to work on this idea of transforming prison yards so that it creates living environments and communities that produce better neighbors,” Lyle said.
While in prison, he has been working on therapy groups with other inmates and plans to continue his advocacy work for survivors of childhood sex abuse, he added.
“I’ve had talks with Rosie O’Donnell about creating a foundation where we would go and try to speak to the forums in those groups and help in that space,” Lyle added. “It’s an area that I spend a lot of my time in.”
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