Up next
Tuesday's Final Word
The request from Los Angeles County prosecutors to resentence brothers Erik and Lyle Mendendez — currently serving life without parole sentences for the murders of their parents in 1989 — has been sent to the Van Nuys Courthouse, where it will be heard by a new judge.
The case was initially to be heard by Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan — who was said to favor early release for the brothers — but Monday’s transfer put it in the court room of Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic, KNBC reported.
A scheduled for the case was not immediately set.
Last week, LA County District Attorney George Gascón announced that he was recommending the brothers be resentenced to 50 years to life, citing goog behavior in prison, as CrimeOnline reported. He said he was hoping that they could be eligible for an immediate parole hearing since they were younger than 26 when the murders took place.
“I believe they have paid their debt to society,” he said on Thursday.
Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 when Jose and Kitty Menendez were shot dead in their home. Initially the brothers claimed unknown intruders were responsible, but Erik later confessed to a therapist in 1990.
Evidence of Erik and Lyle Menendez’s father molesting them was presented at their first trial — which ended with a hung jury. However, those details were not as prominent during the second trial which resulted in their convictions.
Earlier this month, Gascón said his office would review the sexual abuse allegations.
According to TMZ, Jesic is a former district attorney known as a law and order man who is also described as fair.
