'Real Reason' Los Angeles DA Is on a Mission to Free the 'Abused’ Menendez Brothers: ‘This is a Politician Seeking Re-Election — in Trouble and Exploiting a Tragedy'
The Menendez brothers could be freed or be given lighter sentences.
Oct. 22 2024, Published 5:55 p.m. ET
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón's decision to review the Menendez brothers' convictions has been branded a political power play.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the veteran prosecutor, 70, is using the case as a last-ditch effort to escape defeat on Election Day, according to a political commentator.
George Gascón has been accused of reopening case to gain more voters.
Gascón is trailing rival Nathan Hochman in the polls and is now hoping his involvement in potentially freeing the brothers, or at least handing shorter sentences in a possible retrial, may appeal to younger voters, who have sided with Menendez brothers in recent years and even more so in light of Ryan Murphy’s Netflix drama.
Politics writer Alexander Nazaryan said: "The district attorney has turned the troubled brothers into a political prop."
Ryan Murphy's Netflix series Monsters helped revive interest in the case.
Gascón's rival Hochman has also said the "timing is incredibly suspicious."
Erik and Lyle Menendez were sentenced to life in prison in 1996 for the brutal 1989 murders of parents Jose and Kitty Menendez while they watched television inside their Beverly Hills home.
But weeks after the release of Netflix nine-parter Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, LA district attorney Gascón announced he was reviewing the convictions in light of new evidence brought by the brothers' attorneys related to allegations of sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of father, a successful businessman and music executive.
Erik and Lyle were found guilty of the 1989 murder of parents José and Kitty Menendez.
The evidence included a letter from Erik, then 13, wrote to a cousin, which said: “Every night I stay up thinking he might come in.”
The petition additionally includes an allegation from Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, that "he was anally raped twice, and orally copulated, by Jose Menendez."
On reviewing the case, Gascón said: "We are not, at this point, ready to say that we either believe or do not believe that information.
Erik Menenedez and his brother should stay in prison for life, according to reporter who covered original trial.
"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."
A hearing is scheduled for November 26.
As well as delving back into to the Menendez brothers' case, Gascón has also been accused of bidding to attract young voters by posting “cringe-worthy” videos on TikTok.
Nazaryan added: "Gascón is clearly playing to a social media audience, as if his constituency were entirely in cyberspace."
Last week, RadarOnline.com revealed the reporter who covered the brothers' murder trial insisted they killed their parents, José and Kitty, in cold blood and deserved to be behind bars for the rest of their lives - despite the new evidence.
Alan Abrahamson, now a journalism professor at the University of Southern California, covered the televised trial in 1993 for the Los Angeles Times, told TMZ: "My take is... uh.. pretty direct and pretty simple, the brothers are stone cold killers and they deserve to be in prison for the rest of their lives.
This family photo was taken one year before the brutal murders of Kitty and Jose Menendez.
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He explained even if the brothers were being abused by their father, their lives were not in "imminent" danger when they ambushed their parents in their Beverly Hills home, firing multiple fatal gunshots at close range.
Abrahamson added: "The parents were sitting in there in the den watching TV. There was no fear whatsoever."
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