Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón is suggesting that Erik and Lyle Menendez be resentenced for the first-degree murders of their parents committed in 1989. However, one of his colleagues argues that this is merely a political stunt.
Gascón announced his recommendation on Thursday, following weeks of speculation about it. Although a judge will ultimately decide the Menendez brothers’ fate, the DA’s recommendation will factor into the ruling.
Initially, Erik and Lyle were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The case has gained renewed attention due to the release of several popular documentaries, including a recent season of Netflix’s “Monsters” in September. Supporters of the Menendez brothers contend that the murders of their parents were justified, citing allegations of sexual abuse by their father.
“I believe they have paid their debt to society,” Gascón said of the Menendez brothers during a news conference on Thursday.
However, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney John Lewin argues that Gascón is only prioritizing this case to divert attention from the recent negative publicity surrounding him.
“George Gascón is in the process of suffering the worst and most humiliating defeat by an elected district attorney in probably the history of the United States,” Lewin told Fox & Friends host Ainsley Earhardt. “He is down 30 points. He has no money. And because of that, what he’s had to do is to try and generate as much publicity as he can.”
Lewin further explains that the day before Gascón announced he would revisit the Menendez case, the LA Times published a story about his decision not to prosecute a juvenile suspect in a double murder, who later committed another murder.
The deputy DA also noted that even if the Menendez brothers were sexually abused by their father as they allege, that would not serve as justification for murder.
“They executed their parents. Basically blew them apart with shotguns … they ended up spending a bunch of money, and they opened the safe the next morning because they were very worried that there was a will.”
Lewin described the recommendation for resentencing as a “publicity stunt.”
“George Gascón has 15,000 unfiled cases, including a bunch of sex cases, that he’s not paying attention to at all because they don’t generate publicity. This is a publicity stunt designed to basically bait and switch the electorate.”
The next court date for the Menendez brothers is scheduled for November 26.
