Menendez brothers are indignant about life on parole, paving the way for freedom
Lyle and Erik Menendez were sentenced to life on Tuesday with a potential parole, laying the foundation for their release after they were given a three decades-long will after killing their parents in a Beverly Hills mansion.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael V. Jesic’s decision follows testimony from family members, who said the brothers turned their lives in prison through education and self-help groups. They urged the court to reduce the brothers' verdict on the 1989 murder.
Judge Jesus’ decision was by far the most important legal step for the brothers to win the release, but it was not the last step. In reducing the brothers' sentences, the judge allowed them to be eligible for parole immediately.
Now, people's attention will draw on the state's parole board. The brothers are already planning to appear on the board on June 13 due to Gavin Newsom's consideration of leniency.
The brothers’ resentful decision toward the brothers was a surprising turn, and in a legend that has attracted American attention for decades. The story of sexual abuse and murder in one of the toughest cities in the United States was irresistible to the media and the public in 1989, and it heralded an obsession with another story in Los Angeles – the murder of OJ Simpson.
The brothers said they broke into the nest of a Beverly Hills mansion on a Sunday night in 1989 and killed their parents with a shotgun because they suffered years of sexual abuse by their father. They said they were worried that their parents would kill them to keep the secret of abuse. At that time, Lyle was 21 years old and Erik was 18 years old.
Now, two middle-aged men, brothers, appeared at a hearing on Tuesday in a jail near San Diego, sitting in blue jumpsuits while witnesses later testified on their behalf.
Through the video feed, both spoke Tuesday afternoon, responsible for the crime and apologized to relatives, who sobbed softly in court.
As the brothers' verdict was reconsidered, the case involved an estimate of policy and culture in the 1990s: the harsh measures of criminal offenses overcrowded prisons in California; the social attitudes about sexual abuse, full of doubts about the brothers' stories; the trial range of the gavel to papaya TV broadcast; and the late night comics often mocked the brothers as privileged Dilettants.
They landed in the turbulent times of Los Angeles in 1993. The officer who beat Rodney King was acquitted for the attack, catalyzing the deadly riot.
After their first trial, the brothers were tried together with a separate jury – they were on trial for the second time after Mr. Simpson was acquitted.
This time, the two brothers face different rules in court. Camera bans, limited testimony from judges and evidence of sexual abuse. The jury was convicted of murder and they were sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
In recent years, the brothers have expressed sympathy for many young people who were not alive when they committed crimes. Learning about the case online, they began to believe that the brothers were abused by the criminal justice system and the media and rallied their careers on social media.
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