Erik and Lyle Menéndez were sentenced to life in prison in 1996 for the murder of their parents. Prosecutors need court approval to restart the trial.
Prosecutors in Los Angeles, United States, will recommend changing the sentence of Erik and Lyle Menéndez for the murders of their parents in 1989, giving the brothers a chance at freedom after 34 years in prison. A judicial official with knowledge of the decision, who was not authorized to speak on the record before a news conference held Thursday, confirmed that Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón is expected to recommend a new sentence.
Erik and Lyle Menéndez were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison, without the possibility of parole, for the murder of their parents in the family home in Beverly Hills. You Prosecutors now need court approval to restart the trial.
Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, admitted that he shot his father deadJosé Menéndez, entertainment industry executive, and your motherKitty Menendez. The brothers claimed they feared their parents were about to kill them to prevent people from finding out that José Menéndez had sexually abused Erik Menéndez for years.
HE The brothers’ extended family pleaded for their release.saying they deserve to be free after more than three decades behind bars. Several family members argued that in today’s world, more aware of the impacts of sexual abuse, the brothers would not have been convicted of first-degree murder or sentenced to life in prison.
Several family members, including his aunt, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, sat in the front rows of Thursday’s news conference. Joan was the sister of Kitty Menéndez and publicly supported the release of her nephews.
The Menendez brothers They were tried twice for the murder of their parentsand the first trial ended with a hung jury.
Prosecutors at the time stated that There was no evidence of sexual abuse and many details of his history of sexual abuse were not allowed at the second trial.. The Public Ministry also argued, at the time, that the brothers intended to seize their parents’ multimillion-dollar assets.
However, not all members of the Menéndez family support reviewing the sentence. Lawyers for Milton Anderson, Kitty Menendez’s 90-year-old brother, filed a motion asking the court to affirm the brothers’ original sentence.
“His mother, Kitty, was shot while reloading [a arma] to ensure his death,” Anderson’s lawyers said in a statement. “The evidence remains overwhelmingly clear: the jury’s verdict was fair and the punishment fits the heinous crime,” they stated.
Source: Observadora
