Los Angeles – Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón announced on Thursday announced that his office is looking into the Menendez Brothers case where the brothers, Lyle and Erik Menendez, were convicted 35 years ago for the killing of their parents in a case that captivated national audiences.
Gascón acknowledged this was a case of “tremendous interest nationally” especially “since the Netflix documentary come out, we’re getting a lot of calls.”
He said in this case they have been asked to look into both a petition for Habeas as well as resentencing.
He explained in a habeas, “someone that was convicted is asking for a review of new evidence that had been made available. They had that evidence been available to the court and the jury at the time of the trial perhaps the outcome may have been different.”
There is also a resentencing process, “Resentencing under California law, where a prosecutor can evaluate whether someone has been rehabilitated and based on their actions and the fact that they’re not involving criminal activity inside the prison, that their sentence could be reevaluated.”
He said, “In this case, again, the Melendez brothers are asking for a review through both of those vehicles, we have not decided on the outcome.”
Gascón said, “think it’s also important that we recognize that both men and women can be the victims of sexual assault.”
He noted, “most of the victims are usually young women, but they’re men also that are victimized.”
The DA made clear that they are only looking into the developments at this stage and not casting doubt or blame on the original trial.
“We’re not saying that there was anything wrong with the original trial,” Gascón said. “We have been given evidence, we have been given a photocopy of a letter that allegedly was sent by one of the brothers to another family member talking about him being the victim of molestation.”
He added, “We’ve also got evidence that was provided by the defense by his lawyers that one of the members of the Menendez brothers alleged that he was molested by the father. None of this information has been confirmed.”
He emphasized, “We are not at this point ready to say that we either believe or do not believe that information. But we’re here to tell you is that we have a moral and aneth ethical obligation to review what is being presented to us and make a determination based on the resentencing side, whether they deserve to be resentenced, even though they were clearly the murderers because they have been in prison for 35 years and they have paid back their dues to society or whether habeas is appropriate.”
Gascón continued, “If there was evidence that was not presented to the court at that time and had that evidence been presented, perhaps a jury would’ve come to a different conclusion.”
At the same time, he said, “I don’t think there was any question in this case that the boys or the men, young man, one was 19, the other one was 21 at the time, that they murdered their parents. I think that’s factual. It’s been established.”
Two issues he emphasized – one is whether there is evidence that had it been presented to the jury, “the outcome of this case would have been different.”
And second, “a path to re-sentencing where a prosecutor can evaluate whether someone has been rehabilitated. And if so, ask the court to determine whether the person should be resentenced.”
Gascón announced a hearing will be coming up on November 29, but “until we get there, we’re not sure yet which direction this will go.”
