Erik and Lyle Menéndez‘s lawyer is hopeful that they could be home by Thanksgiving.
“I believe [that] before Thanksgiving, they will be home. I still believe that,” Mark Geragos said during a press conference Thursday, October 24, after Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón recommended the brothers be resentenced in light of new evidence related to their convictions.
Gascón said during a Thursday press conference that if his recommendation is accepted, Erik and Lyle would be “eligible for parole immediately” since they were under 26 years old when they murdered their parents, José and Kitty, in their Beverly Hills, California, home in 1989.
“We thank the D.A. for what he did today,” Geragos told reporters as he stood beside members of Erik and Lyle’s family. “Today is a monumental victory on that path.”
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Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, were sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1996, however, Geragos filed for an appeal in 2023, requesting a retrial on the grounds of former Menudo member Roy Rosselló’s allegations of sexual assault against José, and a newly discovered letter from Erik to his cousin Andy Cano in which he described his father’s alleged sexual abuse months before the murders.
Gascón’s recommendation will now go to the judge on the case, who will have his suggestion go before the Board of Parole Hearings.
“If there is a hearing. I say if, because there doesn’t necessarily have to be one, all of these family members who are behind me will be heard,” Geragos said Thursday. “All of these family members will ask one thing, which is, ‘Bring them home.’ Enough is enough.”
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During his press conference earlier Thursday, Gascón said that he believes Erik and Lyle, who were 18 and 21 respectively at the time of the murders, “have paid their debt to society” and they are “safe to be integrated into society.”
The Menéndez case has attracted renewed interest following the September release of Netflix’s limited series about the brothers, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story, and the documentary The Menéndez Brothers, which was released earlier this month.
Following Gascón’s recommendation, Cooper Koch, who played Erik in Monsters, praised the D.A. for his decision.
“I am overwhelmed with gratitude and hope for the progress we’ve seen today,” the actor wrote in a statement via his brother Payton Koch‘s Instagram Story on Thursday. “Gascón’s recommendation has ignited a renewed sense of possibility that Lyle and Erik could finally be released after decades behind bars.”
Kim Kardashian, a criminal justice reform activist, also applauded the D.A.’s recommendation. Kardashian, 44, and Koch, 28, previously met Erik and Lyle in prison after Monsters premiered last month.
“To the brothers’ family, friends, and millions who have been vocal supporters — your voices were heard,” Kardashian wrote in part via her Instagram Story on Thursday. “The media’s focus, especially on the heels of Ryan Murphy’s TV show, helped expose the abuse and injustices in their case. Society’s understanding of child abuse has evolved, and social media empowers us to question the system in place. This case highlights the importance of challenging decisions and seeking truth, even when guilt is not in question.”
