Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez sit with defense attorney Leslie Abramson, right, in Beverly Hills Municipal Court during a hearing on November 26, 1990. Nick Ut/Associated Press

LOS ANGELES – Erik and Lyle Menendez still have a long way to go before they can leave prison, even though the Los Angeles County district attorney has recommended that their sentences of life without parole be thrown out and that the brothers be resentenced and immediately eligible for parole.

The brothers, convicted of the 1989 murders of their parents in the family’s Beverly Hills mansion, will have to get a judge to follow the recommendation of Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón on Thursday and then a conditional sentence must approve their release. The final stop is with Gov. Gavin Newsom, who could overrule the board’s decision.

It is an uncertain process that is likely to span months.

Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, confessed to fatally shooting their entertainer father, Jose Menendez, and their mother, Kitty Menendez. The brothers said they feared their parents were about to kill them to keep people from finding out that Jose Menendez had been sexually abusing Erik Menendez for years.

Prosecutors argued at the time that there was no evidence of molestation. The brothers’ first trial ended in a hung jury, and prosecutors secured a conviction in the second after much of the abuse evidence was excluded from the trial. The prosecutor’s office also said at the time that the brothers were after their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate.

Now the DA and relatives say the world is better understanding the role of trauma in sexual assault cases.

Critics accuse the DA of playing politics

Meanwhile, Gascón faces fights over his embittered recommendation: His opponents in his re-election bid next month, as well as some of his own prosecutors, have called the latest developments in the case politically motivated and the result of a recently released Netflix documentary about the infamous. crime.

Michele Hanisee, president of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys, said Wednesday that Gascón’s decision smacks of “opportunism” to grab headlines.

“During his disastrous tenure as DA, Gascón has consistently prioritized celebrity cases over the rights of crime victims, showing more interest in being in the limelight than upholding justice,” Hanisee said in a statement.

But the district attorney said he made the final decision just an hour before Thursday’s press conference and that it was separate from politics.

Since their sentencing in 1996, the brothers have been model prisoners, Gascón and their lawyer say, committed to rehabilitation and redemption.

“I came to a place where I believe it is appropriate to file charges under the law,” Gascón said during the press conference.

What comes next?

Gascón’s office filed paperwork Thursday recommending that the brothers — now 54 and 56 years old — receive a new sentence of 50 years to life. Because they were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately.

“I think they have paid their debt to society,” the DA said.

A hearing before a judge could come in the next month or so. If the judge agrees to the conviction, the state parole board will hold its own hearing to decide whether they should go free. If the board recommends parole, Newsom would have 150 days to review the case. The governor could green light parole or override the board and deny their release.

Despite Gascón’s goal to free the brothers, Laurie Levenson, a criminal justice professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, warned that the judge was unlikely to be a “rubber stamp” because of dissent within the DA’s office.

“It actually puts the judge in a very challenging position,” Levenson said, noting that she hadn’t heard of any cases until recently where the head of the office disagreed with other attorneys involved in the case. In the end, Gascón chose the “safest route” for his decision — leaving it up to the court and probation, she said.

Mark Geragos, an attorney for the brothers, has said he is hopeful the brothers can be freed by Thanksgiving. Levenson called that deadline “terribly hopeful.”

The family largely unites to demand the brothers’ freedom

The brothers’ extended family has appealed for their release. Several family members have said that in today’s world — which is more aware of the effects of sexual abuse — the brothers would not have been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole.

Kitty Menendez’s sister, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, bottom left, and niece Karen VanderMolen, right, sit together during a press conference to announce developments in the case of brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez on Oct. 16 in Los Angeles. Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press

Anamaria Baralt, a niece of Jose Menendez, said the district attorney’s “courageous and necessary” decision means “Lyle and Erik can finally begin to heal from the trauma of their past.”

Not all Menendez family members support resentencing. Lawyers for Milton Andersen, the 90-year-old brother of Kitty Menendez, filed a legal action to uphold the brothers’ original sentences.

“They shot their mother Kitty and reloaded to ensure her death,” Andersen’s lawyers said in a statement Thursday. “The evidence remains overwhelmingly clear: the jury’s verdict was fair and the punishment fit the heinous crime.”

DA’s challenger weighs in

The LA district attorney is in the middle of a tough re-election battle against former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman, who has blamed Gascón’s progressive reform policies for recent high-profile murders and increased retail crime.

Gascón said Thursday that his office has recommended that 300 criminals, including people behind bars for murder, be prosecuted.

Hochman questioned the timing of Gascón’s announcement, which came less than two weeks before the election, calling it a “desperate political move.”

He said he cannot form his own opinion about the case without access to confidential records and relevant witnesses.

“If I become prosecutor and the case is still pending at that time, I will conduct a review consistent with how I would review any case,” Hochman said.

Geragos said the DA took the case seriously before there was any talk of him losing re-election.

New attention to the case

The case has gained new traction in recent weeks after Netflix began streaming the crime drama “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”

Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin pop group Menudo, also recently came forward, saying he was drugged and raped by Jose Menendez when he was a teenager in the 1980s.

Rossello spoke about his abuse in the 2023 Peacock docuseries “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.” His allegations are part of the evidence outlined in the petition filed last year by the Menendez brothers’ attorneys seeking a review of their cases.

Menudo was signed to RCA Records, which Jose Menendez headed at the time.

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