Los Angeles DA Backs Menendez Brothers’ Clemency Request
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón announced on Wednesday that he is backing the clemency request from the Menendez brothers, which was submitted by their defense team on Oct. 28.
“I strongly support clemency for Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are currently serving sentences of life without possibility of parole. They have respectively served 34 years and have continued their educations and worked to create new programs to support the rehabilitation of fellow inmates,” said Gascón in a statement shared with TheWrap.
The district attorney’s office has sent letters of support for the request to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who will now review the matter.
Gascón announced his decision to recommend resentencing for the Menendez brothers on Oct. 24 and his office filed the motion in court that same day.
A court date is scheduled for Dec. 11 in Dept. S of the Van Nuys Courthouse, according to the LADA’s office.
Erik and Lyle Menendez have both served 35 years in jail without the possibility of parole for the double murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989.
The popularity of the Netflix series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” from producer Ryan Murphy has brought heightened awareness to the brothers’ accounts of enduring terrible sexual abuse at the hands of their father.
Several surviving members of the Menendez family have also called for the brothers to be released, as have celebrities including Kim Kardashian and Rosie O’Donnell.
“Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed,” a 2023 Peacock documentary that preceded the Netflix series, included additional allegations of sexual abuse against Jose Menendez from former Menudo member Roy Rosselló.
A second piece of evidence cited by Gascón as further corroboration of the detailed history of abuse was a letter Erik allegedly wrote to his cousin Andy Cano eight months before the murders.
The handwritten letter, which has since been made public, reads, in part: “I’ve been trying to avoid dad. It’s still happening, Andy, but it’s worse for me now. I never know when it’s going to happen and it’s driving me crazy. Every night I stay up thinking he might come in.”
The post Los Angeles DA Backs Menendez Brothers’ Clemency Request appeared first on TheWrap.