Menendez brothers’ family: ‘They’ve served their time’

The attorney for Lyle and Erik Menendez said he thinks the brothers are “cautiously optimistic that they can see some real relief” after the Los Angeles County district attorney announced he’s recommending resentencing.
District Attorney George Gascón said he recommended in a court filing on Friday that the brothers’ sentence of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life. Because of the brothers’ ages — they both were under 26 at the time of the crimes — they would be eligible for parole immediately, Gascón said at a Thursday news conference.
The final resentencing decision will be made by a judge and the parole board must also approve, Gascón said.
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While Gascón said he hopes to get a court hearing on the docket within the next 30 to 45 days, the brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos, said he thinks there will be a hearing “well before that.” Geragos told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” that his goal is to have the brothers home for Thanksgiving.
However, according to the California Department of Corrections, the process will take at least six months. If an inmate is resentenced to life with the possibility of parole, the hearing before the parole board is scheduled for no earlier than six months out, as required by notice provisions and other mandates that must be fulfilled before a hearing, the department said.
Nearly two dozen of the brothers’ relatives have been pushing for their resentencing.
“It’s exciting, it’s beyond words,” the brothers’ cousin, Karen VanderMolen, told “GMA.”
“We are continuing to be optimistic that Erik and Lyle will be released soon, and best-case scenario would be for us to have Erik and Lyle home for the busy week of Thanksgiving,” she said, which also includes three family birthdays.
“There is no excuse for murder,” Gascón stressed at the news conference, and he added that he doesn’t “believe that manslaughter would have been the appropriate charge [to request in the resentencing filing] given the premeditation that was involved.”
Lyle and Erik Menendez were each sentenced to two consecutive terms of life without parole after they were convicted in 1996 of fatally shooting their parents.
Lyle Menendez was 21 and Erik Menendez was 18 when they killed Jose and Kitty Menendez at the family’s Beverly Hills home in 1989. The brothers argued they acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father; prosecutors alleged they killed their wealthy parents for financial gain.
Gascón said this month that his office was evaluating new evidence: allegations from a member of the boy band Menudo who said he was molested by Jose Menendez, and a letter Erik Menendez wrote to a cousin eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse.
Erik Menendez’s cousin testified about the alleged abuse at trial, but Erik Menendez’s letter — which would have corroborated the cousin’s testimony — wasn’t unearthed until several years ago, according to Geragos.
“I’ve never once doubted Erik and Lyle. I believe them,” the brothers’ cousin, Natascha Leonardo, told “GMA.” “The new evidence that has come out just continues to support our belief.”
Another cousin, Tamara Goodell, added that a new swell of support from the public is due to a younger generation’s understanding that boys and men are also victims of sexual abuse, which wasn’t as well recognized in the 1990s.
“This new generation is really putting up a fight to say, ‘This is not what should’ve been handed to them,'” she said. “At this point, after almost 35 years, they’ve served their time. … Now, it’s time for them to come home.”
One relative — the brothers’ uncle, Milton Andersen — is adamant about keeping them behind bars, though. He said he firmly believes his nephews were not sexually assaulted and were motivated by greed.
“The jury’s verdict was just, and the punishment fits the heinous crime,” he said in a statement.
Gascón told ABC News this month that any recommendation for resentencing would take into account the decades the brothers already served and their behavior in prison.
The brothers made a positive impact while incarcerated, despite “no hopes of ever getting out of prison,” Gascón said. They focused on “creating groups to deal with how to address untreated trauma, creating groups to deal with other inmates that have physical disabilities and may be treated differently. Even in one case, Lyle negotiating for other inmates as to the conditions that they live under,” he said.
Geragos said Lyle Menendez received a college degree behind bars while Erik Menendez provides hospice care to inmates.
“They’ve done great things while in prison. I don’t see anything that’s going to stop them from continuing that work once they’re out,” Geragos said.
ABC News’ Alex Stone contributed to this report.