Who would have thought that we’d be ending the year with the release of Erik and Lyle Menendez? Of course, it’s not a done deal yet, but the Menendez brothers have several options on their path to freedom, one of which is directly petitioning California Governor Gavin Newsom for clemency.
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón released a letter he sent to Newsom, asking the governor to step in. “I write in strong support of Lyle Menendez’s petition for clemency submitted to your office on October 28, 2024,” Gascón wrote. “Mr. Menendez is currently 56 years old serving his 34th year in prison at the RJ Donovan Correctional Facility.” In a separate letter, the DA said: “I write in strong support of Erik Menendez’s petition for clemency submitted to your office on October 28, 2024. Mr. Menendez is currently 54 years old serving his 34th year in prison at the RJ Donovan Correctional Facility.“
Gascón added that the brothers “have respectively served 34 years and have continued their educations and worked to create new programs to support the rehabilitation of fellow inmates.” The Menendez brothers have a new hearing set for December 11th, where L.A. Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic will consider resentencing the pair on a voluntary manslaughter charge. As the brothers have already served more than 30 years in prison, they would immediately be eligable for parole and could be home in time for the holidays.
However, there is one snag to that plan. As Gascón is up for reelection, he may no longer be in office by December 11th, which means the resentencing request could be withdrawn.
The renewed interest in the Menendez brothers skyrocketed after the release of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story on Netflix. New pieces of evidence also drove the push for their resentencing. One of those new pieces is a letter allegedly written by Erik Menendez to his cousin Andy Cano eight months before the murders. “I’ve been trying to avoid dad. It’s still happening Andy but it’s worse for me now. I can’t explain it. He’s so overweight that I just can’t stand to see him. I never know when it’s going to happen and it’s driving me crazy,” said Erik in the letter.
Erik Menendez took to social media (through his wife Tammi) to slam Monsters co-creator Ryan Murphy for including “ruinous character portrayals” of both him and his brother. Murphy hit back, saying that they should be sending him flowers for giving them so much attention again. “I’ll tell you my thoughts about the Menendez brothers. The Menendez brothers should be sending me flowers. They haven’t had so much attention in 30 years. And it’s gotten the attention of not only this country, but all over the world. There’s sort of an outpouring of interest in their lives and in the case,” Murphy said. “I know for a fact that many people have offered to help them because of the interest of my show and what we did. There is no world that we live in where the Menendez brothers or their wives or lawyers would say, ‘You know what, that was a wonderful, accurate depiction of our clients.’ That was never going to happen, and I wasn’t interested in that happening.“
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is currently streaming on Netflix and you can check out a review from our own Alex Maidy right here.