{"id":1342,"date":"2024-11-11T21:36:17","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T21:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/why-the-menendez-brothers-may-get-a-resentencing-after-more-than-30-years-in-prison\/"},"modified":"2024-11-11T21:36:17","modified_gmt":"2024-11-11T21:36:17","slug":"why-the-menendez-brothers-may-get-a-resentencing-after-more-than-30-years-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/why-the-menendez-brothers-may-get-a-resentencing-after-more-than-30-years-in-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Menendez brothers may get a resentencing after more than 30 years in prison"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Clarissa-Jan Lim<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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After serving more than three decades in prison for murdering their parents, Erik and Lyle Menendez<\/a> may have a chance at freedom.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said Thursday that his office is reviewing new evidence<\/a> brought by the brothers’ attorneys related to allegations of sexual abuse, and that his office will decide whether the brothers should be resentenced and possibly released from prison. <\/p>\n

“We are not, at this point, ready to say that we either believe or do not believe that information,” Gascón said. “But we’re here to tell you because we have a moral and ethical obligation to review what is being presented to us and make a determination.”<\/p>\n

A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 26. <\/p>\n

In 1989, the brothers were convicted of shooting and killing their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion, and the case was a media sensation at the time. Erik and Lyle Menendez, who were 18 and 21 respectively when the crime was committed, admitted to killing their parents, saying it was self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father and indifference from their mother. <\/p>\n

Their first trial was declared a mistrial, and at their second trial, prosecutors managed to disqualify a large amount of evidence of sexual abuse and accused the brothers of lying about it. A jury ultimately found them guilty of first-degree murder, and they were sentenced to life without parole. <\/p>\n

The brothers have long tried to get their convictions vacated. But public interest <\/a>and support<\/a> for them has surged in recent months, in large part due to a hit Netflix documentary series, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” The show has been widely criticized<\/a> for liberties taken in depicting the brothers’ relationship. Erik Menendez also issued a statement<\/a> through his wife calling the series a “dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime.”<\/p>\n

Gascón noted to reporters on Thursday that the Netflix show has sparked “tremendous interest” in the case. “We’re getting a lot of calls,” he said. <\/p>\n

Cliff Gardner, one of the brothers’ attorneys, told<\/a> The Associated Press that they believe resentencing is “appropriate,” given the new evidence and the current “understanding of how sexual and physical abuse impacts children — both boys and girls.”<\/p>\n

“The brothers have served more than 30 years in prison,” he added. “That is enough.”<\/p>\n

CORRECTION <\/strong>(Oct. 24, 2024, 3:32 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated Erik Menendez’s age at the time of the crime. He was 18, not 19.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Clarissa-Jan Lim<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking\/trending news blogger for BLN Digital. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oct. 4, 2024, 9:47 PM UTC\/Updated Oct. 24, 2024, 7:32 PM UTC By Clarissa-Jan Lim After serving more than three decades in prison for murdering their parents, Erik and Lyle Menendez may have a chance at freedom. Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said Thursday that his office is reviewing new evidence brought by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-trump"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}