Prosecutor Seeks New Sentence, Parole for Menendez Brothers

Facts

• Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón announced Thursday that Lyle and Erik Menendez — who have already served over three decades of their life sentence for the murder of their parents — will be resentenced by a judge.^[1][2]
• Gascón is asking the court to resentence the brothers to 50 years to life with the possibility of parole, which, if a parole board granted their release, could lead to them walking out of prison within a matter of weeks.^[3][4]
• The brothers were convicted in 1996 of first-degree murder for killing Kitty and Jose Menendez in 1989. In their first trial in 1995, they alleged their father had sexually abused them, and thus, it was in self-defense.^[5]
• In their second trial, the court excluded much of the evidence surrounding the alleged sexual abuse. However, two new pieces of evidence have emerged, including a letter Erik wrote to his cousin claiming his father abused him months before the murders.^[6]
• The second piece of evidence comes from Roy Rossello, a former member of the boy band Menudo, who claims Jose Menendez — an executive at the music label RCA Records — had sexually abused him in the 1980s.^[4]
• This follows the release of two Netflix documentaries detailing the brothers' alleged sexual abuse, as well as a 2023 Peacock documentary detailing Rossello's allegations. Kitty Menendez's brother is against the release, claiming he was left out of Gascón's decision-making process.^[3][7]

Sources: ^[1]BBC News, ^[2]New York Post, ^[3]New York Times, ^[4]FOX News (a), ^[5]Wsj, ^[6]Vice and ^[7]FOX News (b).

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by NBC. The media and public opinion completely swayed this case at the time. While prosecutors portrayed them as spoiled rich kids seeking their father's fortune, evidence surrounding their history of abuse was kept hidden from the jury. Criminal cases should be decided on the facts, and with this new evidence coming to light, the brothers should finally get the freedom they deserve.
• Narrative B, as provided by Youtube. While these allegations of sexual abuse are certainly plausible, it seems the media is yet again swaying the public. Companies like Netflix like to tug at our heartstrings in an attempt to make what's wrong seem right and what's right seem wrong, including, apparently, punishing your mother for your father's alleged crimes. A trial, not emotion-driven documentaries, should determine the brothers' fate.