LOS ANGELES — Brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are serving life terms without parole for the shotgun killings of their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion, will make their first court appearance Monday in a bid for their release after more than 34 years behind bars.
The brothers will join the hearing in Van Nuys via video from the San Diego area prison where they are being held.
Defense lawyers Mark Geragos and Clifford Gardner started the ball rolling last year by filing a petition to vacate the brothers’ conviction, arguing that newly uncovered evidence bolstered the brothers’ allegation of sexual abuse against their father, Jose. Judge Michael V. Jesic will consider their motion and hear the response from outgoing Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón.
That habeas motion included a letter Erik Menendez sent to his cousin in December 1988 — eight months before the killings — that appeared to corroborate the claims of abuse. It also included a declaration from Roy Rosselló, a member of the boy band Menudo, who alleged that Jose Menendez raped him in 1984 when he was 13 or 14 years old.
Geragos said the brothers’ conviction should be thrown out in light of the new evidence, which could set them free immediately for the killings at 722 N. Elm Drive or result in them being resentenced on a lesser charge. Alternatively, the motion asks that the judge recall the case for a hearing on the evidence.
Ultimately, it is “in the hands of a respected judge,” Geragos said. Geragos said that while “there are so many crosscurrents,” with some prosecutors and relatives supporting the brothers and others opposing them, it’s a judicial decision.
Separately, Gascón has asked Superior Court Judge William Ryan to give the brothers a new sentence of 50 years to life, a move that could make them eligible for parole as youthful offenders because they committed the crime when they were younger than 26. That motion will not be heard until after Gascón leaves office, however.
The two brothers were convicted of murder with special circumstances, a charge that is punishable in California only by life without parole or the death penalty. The 1989 killings, and the televised trial that followed, have sparked documentaries, movies and television series that have made the brothers two of the most publicly recognizable convicts.
Tourists still linger outside the Elm Drive Mediterranean mansion where the pair killed their parents as the likes of Kim Kardashian visit them in prison.
The brothers have pursued appeals for years without success, but now they could have a path to freedom.
In 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez bought a pair of shotguns with cash, walked into their home and shot their parents while they watched a movie in the family living room. Prosecutors said Jose Menendez was struck five times, including in the back of the head, and Kitty Menendez crawled on the floor wounded before the brothers reloaded and fired a final, fatal blast.
During their trials, prosecutors repeatedly showed horrific images of shattered features of Kitty Menendez while her husband was on a blood-soaked sofa after being blasted at close range.
Prosecutors would argue the slayings were driven by greed and the brothers’ desire to get their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate.
But during the trials, Erik and Lyle Menendez detailed what they said were years of violent sexual abuse at the hands of their father.
Gascón said he would also support a bid for clemency from Gov. Gavin Newsom for the brothers.
But Newsom said he would delay any decision on clemency until incoming L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman gives his input after reviewing the thousands of pages of evidence in the case. Hochman, who will take office next month after decisively defeating Gascón’s bid for reelection, campaigned on a tougher crime stance and questioned whether Gascón acted on the Menendez case to gain publicity.
A separate hearing is slated for December on the Gascón request for resentencing. Hochman has said he will review the evidence before making a decision on the case.
But Geragos maintains case law involving a San Francisco district attorney from a few years ago means the incoming district attorney cannot pull back what the predecessor did on the resentencing motion. “Once you push the door open, you cannot shut that door,” Geragos said.
More than 20 relatives of the brothers have pleaded for them to be released. More than a dozen family members were also present as Gascón announced his decision last month to seek to reduce the sentence.
“We know this wasn’t the easy decision, but it’s the right one,” said Joan VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister. “This is about truth, justice and healing.”
There is no question that the brothers killed their parents, but Gascón has said the issue is whether the jury heard evidence that their father molested them, and whether that evidence might have affected the outcome of the trial.
Evidence of sexual abuse, including testimony from friends and relatives of the family, was included when the siblings were first tried with separate juries, which ended with the jurors unable to reach unanimous verdicts.
But when they were tried again in front of a single jury, the jurors did not hear much of the testimony supporting their allegations of sexual abuse. The two were convicted of first-degree murder in March 1996.
The brothers’ work leading rehabilitation programs while in prison also factored into the decision to make them eligible for parole, Gascón said.
The two have been engaged for years in prison programs to help inmates deal with trauma and assist those who have physical disabilities. Both have earned college degrees.
“I will never imply that what we’re doing here is to excuse their behavior. … If you get abused, the right path is to call the police,” Gascón said. “Even though they didn’t think they would ever be let free, they engaged in a different journey — a journey of redemption and a journey of rehabilitation.”
If the judge does eventually agree to resentence the pair, their fate would still rest with the parole board, which will decide whether to release them. Newsom could also veto the parole board’s decision.
Kitty Menendez’s 90-year-old brother, Milton Andersen, criticized the decision to seek new sentences for the killers. He said Gascón had refused to meet with him to discuss his decision before announcing it to the media.
“Mr. Andersen has been left in the dark, forced to learn crucial updates about his sister’s case through the media, rather than being treated with the dignity and respect he deserves,” said Andersen’s attorney, Kathy Cady.
