Amid a tough re-election campaign, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon remains hopeful that the Menendez brothers can change their political fortunes.
Public pressure to show leniency for Eric and Lyle Menendez comes weeks after brothers held press conference saying they were “reviewing” new evidence of sexual abuse they allegedly suffered at the hands of their father Gascón told CNN on Tuesday: The case could take a dramatic turn in the coming days.
“There are actually two different camps in my office,” Gascon told CNN’s Jake Tapper this afternoon. “There are people in my group, including those involved in the first trial, who are very vocal that they should spend the rest of their lives in prison and that they were not sexually abused. Some people actually believe that they have likely been sexually abused and should be helped.”
“We will make a decision by the end of this week,” Gascón said.
Needless to say, prosecutors noted that the success of Ryan Murphy’s Netflix hit Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez and a series of documentaries about the brothers “gave public attention to this case.” I honestly admitted. It’s a role he’s clearly considering that could get him some votes.
Based on what he told People magazine earlier this week, the first-term prosecutor’s decision could lead to a recommendation to the court that the brothers be re-sentenced. If that happens, a previously scheduled Nov. 26 hearing could result in the brothers’ life sentences being commuted or even released.
A hearing will be held next month on the petition of brothers Eric, 55, and Lyle, 56, who were sexually abused by their music industry executive father after the DA election, and at least one of the boys The same was true for the members. Band, Menudo, Roy Rosselló. In letters unearthed last year, Eric wrote to one of his cousins in 1988, months before the brothers shot and killed their parents, detailing the extreme and repeated sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his father. . In that context, the brothers’ second trial in 1996, an argument that was glossed over by the Gascon’s self-declared “final” decision at the end of the November hearing, meant that the brothers would either be immediately released or given a new trial. There is a possibility of receiving. 35 years after his parents Jose and Kitty were murdered.
Gascón, who has fallen double digits in the polls against former U.S. Assistant Attorney General Nathan Hockman, said at an Oct. 3 press conference about the case that the divided office “will review what has been submitted to us and will resolve the matter.” “I believe there is a moral and ethical obligation to do so.” It is a judgment based on the party being outraged whether they deserve to be outraged, even if they are clearly the murderer. ”
Hochman, who is backed by Ted Sarandos, called the incumbent’s sudden interest in the Menendez case “very questionable in timing” during an Oct. 8 candidate debate in Gascon. “I’m not going to hold a press conference to say I’m just thinking about it.”
But that disdain did not deter the DA’s office from pressing further into the matter.
As Deadline reported on Oct. 16, Gascon spoke on ABC News’ special IMPACT x Nightline: The Menendez Brothers: Monster or Victim? “I don’t think they deserve to be in prison until they die, considering the totality of the circumstances.”
On the same day last week, Gascon’s office met with about 20 of the brothers’ family members and their attorneys after the relatives held their own press conference in front of the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center. This building was exactly where the brothers lived. Two trials took place in the 1990s.
Today on CNN, Mr. Tapper invited the media-savvy Mr. Gascon to “come on the show on Friday and explain to us whatever decisions you make.” Want to bet he’ll take Tapper up on it?