The Menendez brothers, who shocked America by killing their parents in 1989, are seeking a pardon from the governor of California, the Los Angeles district attorney has announced.
“I strongly support the request for a pardon for Eric and Lyle Menendez, who are serving life sentences with no possibility of parole,” explained District Attorney George Gaskon in a statement. His office sent letters to that effect to the governor.
Already last Thursday, the prosecutor had asked a judge to review the conviction, which could result in a conditional release. A hearing to consider this motion is set for December 11.
The murder in 1989 of Jose and Mary Louise Menendez at their Beverly Hills residence caused a frenzy in the US media.
Their two children, Lyle and Eric, confessed to killing them, stating that they had been victims of rape by their father over a number of years.
Their trial was televised daily until it was displaced by the O.J. Simpson trial, which was labelled as the “trial of the century.”
Prosecutors accused the two brothers of murdering their parents to inherit their $14 million fortune.
The two brothers, aged 18 and 21 at the time of the crime, were not convicted in the first instance as the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
In 1996, they were sentenced at the conclusion of their second trial to life in prison for premeditated murder. The judge refused to consider evidence of their father’s sexual abuse of them.
Netflix’s “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” series has revived interest in the case, and the popular streaming platform is devoting a new documentary film to it.
This has sparked a social media mobilisation in favour of their release, in a world where the #MeToo movement has now changed the way sexual assault is viewed.
District Attorney George Gaskon admitted that his office has received numerous requests that have prompted his staff to review the two brothers’ case.
“I think often, for cultural reasons, we don’t believe the victims of sexual assaults, whether they are men or women,” the Los Angeles district attorney said.
