The defense of brothers Lyle and Erik Menéndez, in life imprisonment for the murder of their parents in a luxurious Beverly Hills mansion in 1989, said this Wednesday that they are working on three alternatives to achieve their release after 34 years behind bars.
Their lawyer, Mark Geragos, will ask the court at a habeas corpus hearing on November 25 that the brothers be sentenced for involuntary manslaughter, his press team reported.
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If the judge in charge of the case rules in favor, the brothers could be immediately released, due to having served more than the maximum sentence for this charge in California, which is 11 years.
Another alternative for the Menéndezes, whose case has returned to the public opinion thanks to a documentary and the Netflix series “Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menéndez,” is to obtain a new sentence.
To address this request, the court has set another hearing for December 11.
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon came out in favor of the motion last week, when he said he would ask the judge to reduce the sentences of the men currently sentenced to life in prison without parole for murder.
A lesser sentence would open the possibility for the Menendezes to apply for parole before a board.
In addition, his defense formalized a request for clemency before the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, for Lyle and Erik, who are 56 and 53 years old, respectively.
The petition also received the endorsement of Gascón, who sent Newsom letters of recommendation in this regard.
“I strongly support clemency for Erik and Lyle Menéndez, who are currently serving sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole,” Gascón said in a statement Wednesday.
“They have turned 34 years old, respectively, and have continued their studies and worked to create new programs to support the rehabilitation of their fellow prisoners.”
The 1989 murder of José and Mary Louise Menéndez was the subject of a veritable media frenzy in the United States.
The trial of Lyle and Erik, in 1993, was broadcast daily on television.
Prosecutors argued that the men conspired to kill their parents and obtain a $14 million inheritance.
The father, José Menéndez, was a Cuban immigrant who amassed a fortune and was chief operating officer of the RCA record label.
The defense maintained that the brothers were victims of continuous sexual and physical abuse by their father, and of their mother’s complicit silence, for which they exploded after years of suffering.
The brothers, who were 18 and 21 years old, were not convicted in the first instance because the jury did not reach a unanimous verdict.
A second trial in which the judge refused to examine elements related to sexual assault concluded in 1996 with his sentence to life in prison for premeditated murder.