Erik and Joseph “Lyle” Menendez, the Beverly Hills brothers who shotgunned their parents to death from behind in 1989, are asking California Gov. Gavin Newsom for clemency less than a week after Los Angeles’ district attorney told a judge their prison sentences should be reduced.
Their lawyer, Mark Geragos, filed documents Monday, with the support of LA District Attorney George Gascon, according to the latter’s office.
The governor’s office said it is unable to discuss specifics.
MENENDEZ BROTHERS RESENTENCING: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Lyle Menendez, left, and his brother Erik are pictured in their most recent mugshots, taken on Oct. 10. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)
“Pending clemency applications are confidential, and we’re not able to discuss individual cases,” a spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The brothers are both serving life without the possibility of parole, but Gascon’s request last week cleared the way for a judge to impose lesser sentences on the brothers.
Gascon recommended 50 years to life, which would make them immediately eligible for parole hearings. He said he opposed taking things a step further and having their crimes reduced from first-degree murder to manslaughter.
Then he turned around Wednesday and publicly urged Newsom to grant clemency and release the brothers before the resentencing process plays out in front of a judge.
MENENDEZ BROTHERS PROSECUTOR ANNOUNCES RESENTENCING DECISION
Mark Geragos, defense attorney of Erik and Lyle Menendez, the Beverly Hills brothers convicted of killing their parents, speaks during a press conference at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles on Oct. 16. (Reuters/Mike Blake)
“I strongly support clemency for Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are currently serving sentences of life without possibility of parole,” Gascon said. “They have respectively served 34 years and have continued their educations and worked to create new programs to support the rehabilitation of fellow inmates.”
The DA, who is up for reelection in less than a week, sent a separate letter in support of each brother to the governor.
Read Gascon’s letter in support of Erik Menendez
The killings were premeditated. The brothers walked up behind their parents with shotguns while the two were watching TV at 10:30 p.m. And they had to go to the car to reload before firing a fatal shot at their mother, who tried to escape the bloody crime scene after being injured.
No matter what happens with their clemency request, Newsom would still have the final say over whether they should go free.
Read Gascon’s letter in support of Lyle Menendez
Even if the parole board approves their release, the governor has veto power.
TIMELINE OF THE MENENDEZ BROTHERS’ MURDER CASE
An undated photo of the Menendez family as it appears onscreen during a panel at CrimeCon 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 2. Lyle and Erik were convicted of fatally shooting their parents in 1989. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
The brothers claim they shot their father, former RCA Records executive Jose Menendez, in self-defense, arguing they thought he was going to kill them after they warned him they planned to expose him as a child sex abuser.
They also killed their mother, Mary “Kitty” Menendez, who was sitting next to Jose eating ice cream and watching TV during the ambush.
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Their first trial ended in a mistrial, when jurors couldn’t agree on their fate. After a second trial in the mid-1990s, in which some of their evidence about the alleged sexual abuse was excluded, jurors agreed with prosecutors that their motive was greed.
