Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon threw a “Hail Mary” on Thursday when he announced that he would be recommending that the Menendez brothers be re-sentenced for the 1989 murder of their parents as he fights for his political life amid a tough re-election campaign, a legal expert said.
Gascon said he would recommend a sentence of 50 years to life for each of the brothers – Erik and Joseph “Lyle” Menendez – which would make them immediately eligible for parole under state law because they were under 26 at the time of the slayings.
“The guy who is down 30 points in his re-election bid threw his Hail Mary today, and he is letting out the Menendez brothers,” criminal defense attorney David Gelman told Fox News Digital. “They’re eligible for parole, and he’s going to make sure that happens. It is a terrible day for the criminal justice system.”
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The Menendez brothers could be released from prison after Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon said he would back a move that they be re-sentenced for the murders of their parents. (Fox News)
Gascon’s campaign declined to comment on the matter. Fox News Digital has reached out to the DA’s office.
The Menendez brothers were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison for the murders of Jose and Mary “Kitty” Menendez in their Beverly Hills mansion. The pair said they had been sexually abused by their father, but prosecutors argued that money was the motive behind the slayings.
During the murders, the brothers ran out of shotgun shells and had to go outside to get more to finish off their mother, who investigators said had blood on the bottom of her shoes, indicating that she tried to escape after the shooting began.
Some critics questioned the timing of Gascon’s announcement, given he is fighting to keep his job amid heavy criticism of his progressive criminal justice policies.
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Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon (Myung Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
“D.A. George Gascon received the Menendez habeas corpus petition in May 2023 and request for re-sentencing in February 2024. Yet, he has waited until days before the November 5 election, 30 points down in the polls with articles coming about how his failed policies have led to additional murders of innocent people, to release his recommendation for re-sentencing,” Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor running against…
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