What happened
The Los Angeles District Attorney's office is requesting that Erik and Lyle Menendez be resentenced for the 1989 murder of their parents, giving the brothers a chance for parole currently barred under their 1996 life sentences. District Attorney George Gascón said Thursday he will ask a judge to sentence the Menendez brothers to 50 years to life, making both immediately eligible for parole because they were under 26 when they killed their parents with shotguns.
Who said what
The brothers "have been in prison for nearly 35 years," Gascón said at a news conference, attended by a group of Menendez relatives who have called for their release. "I believe that they have paid their debt to society." He said some prosecutors disagreed with the recommendation, but he was persuaded by new evidence backing up Erik's claim he was sexually abused by their father.
The murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez "grabbed the nation's attention" for "their lurid nature," The New York Times said. The brothers' initial trial was among "the first to be televised to a national audience, a forerunner of the 1995 murder trial of O.J. Simpson." It included evidence that Jose Menendez sexually abused Erik, and ended in a mistrial with hung juries. Most of the sexual abuse evidence was not permitted at the second trial. Prosecutors said the brothers wanted their parents' $14 million estate.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Interest in the case was renewed by a series of documentaries and true crime dramas, most recently a Netflix series that began airing last month.
What next?
If a Los Angeles Superior Court judge agrees with Gascón's recommendation, the fate of the Menendez brothers "would still rest with the parole board," the Los Angeles Times said, as well as California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
-
Shohei Ohtani is caught in a financial controversy — againIn the Spotlight The controversy concerns Ohtani and his agent, Nez Balelo
-
A descent into academic Hell, a ferocious feminist fable and the adult debut of a beloved children's authorThe Week Recommends August books include R.F. Kuang's 'Katabasis,' Xenobe Purvis' 'The Hounding' and Louis Sachar's 'The Magician of Tiger Castle'
-
What is an upside-down car loan and how do you get out of it?the explainer This happens when the outstanding balance on a car loan exceeds the vehicle's worth
-
Insects and sewer water: the alleged conditions at 'Alligator Alcatraz'The Explainer Hundreds of immigrants with no criminal charges in the United States are being held at the Florida facility
-
Diddy: An abuser who escaped justice?Feature The jury cleared Sean Combs of major charges but found him guilty of lesser offenses
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bailSpeed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambushSpeed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
7 charged in LA for 'largest jewelry heist in US history'Speed Read The purported thieves stole an estimated $100 million worth of items
-
Crime: Why murder rates are plummetingFeature Despite public fears, murder rates have dropped nationwide for the third year in a row
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrialSpeed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
