Menendez brothers hearing date set
LOS ANGELES - Erik and Lyle Menendez, the brothers convicted of murdering their parents Jose and Kitty in 1989, have a hearing date.
The Menendez brothers will go before a judge on Dec. 11. This comes after a meeting on Wednesday between prosecutors, the defense, and the judge assigned to the case - LA County Superior Court Judge Michael V. Jesic.
During this hearing, Vesic will consider a petition filed that the brothers be resentenced to 50 years to life in prison, with the possibility of parole. Given the brothers' ages at the time of the crime, such a move would make them potentially eligible for parole right away as youthful offenders, even though they have only served about 35 years behind bars.
Mark Geragos, the brothers’ attorney, plans to ask for their conviction to be reduced to manslaughter during a Nov. 25 hearing set on a defense petition. If successful, they would be released from prison immediately since they’ve already served the maximum time for manslaughter.
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Additionally, Geragos reportedly said he plans to ask Gov. Gavin Newsom to grant the brothers clemency. If granted, the brothers could go free immediately.
"I strongly support clemency for Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are currently serving sentences of life without possibility of parole," LA County District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement. "They have respectively served 34 years and have continued their educations and worked to create new programs to support the rehabilitation of fellow inmates."
The advancement in the brothers' case comes after Gascón recommended the pair be resentenced after serving more than three decades in prison for the double murder of their parents.
Gascón's office began reviewing new evidence in the case earlier this month and concluded Erik and Lyle would not pose a threat to society if released.
"I believe they have paid their debt," he said.
If a judge approves Gascón's recommendation, it will then be up to the state's parole board to decide if the brothers will be released.
The Menendez brothers were found guilty in 1996 of the murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty, and were ordered to serve life behind bars without the possibility of parole.
Erik and Lyle — who were 18 years old and 21 years old at the time of the murders — claimed they acted in self-defense after suffering years of physical and sexual abuse by their father. However, that defense was not allowed to be used in their second trial.
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Interest in the case has recently been renewed by the release of Netflix's "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story," of which Erik has been highly critical.
"It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward — back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women," a statement by Erik read, posted on his behalf by his wife, Tammi following the doc's release.
RELATED: Erik Menendez's wife Tammi reacts to resentencing recommendation
"I am grateful to DA [George] Gascón, for his courage to seek resentencing for Erik, I am naturally disappointed he did not go further and act on his own belief that Erik and Lyle have served enough time in prison," Tammi shared on X following the resentencing recommendation.