Menendez Brothers' Lawyer Thinks Recall of Sentence Is 'Easiest Solution'
Lyle and Erik Menendez's lawyer is feeling confident after the L.A. County District Attorney's Office announced they're reviewing new evidence ... which could potentially result in the brothers' release from prison.
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00So, Mark, first off, what did you think of the D.A.'s news conference yesterday?
00:06I actually thought it was brave of him.
00:08You know, he's in a very hard-fought race.
00:11Harvey, you've been around as long as I have in L.A.
00:16Most D.A.'s wouldn't touch this.
00:18Most of the previous D.A.'s never would have touched this issue going into an election,
00:23you know, less than a month out, he did it.
00:25I thought he said that he did it because of the amazing amount of interest, but we
00:32know that.
00:33I've said for the last 18 months, the D.A.'s office has been seriously engaged with both
00:39our filed writ of habeas corpus, and we've also sent them over a draft of our resentencing
00:44motion.
00:45So they've been engaged.
00:46They're taking it seriously by all accounts.
00:49If I thought I was getting played, I would have said so.
00:51So what do you think of the options here?
00:55One is to get a new trial based on the fact that the judge wouldn't allow the sexual abuse
01:03allegations in the second trial.
01:06And the second is to somehow get this reduced to voluntary manslaughter, which is more likely
01:15to you?
01:16Because if I may, for me, it's weird to have a new trial because so many people have died,
01:21you know, in the last 35 years who were involved.
01:23But ultimately, at the end of the day, the easiest solution here is given all of the
01:28factors, given the fact that they've been in custody for knock on the door 35 years,
01:33the law in California allows a judge in this situation to recall the sentence, bring back
01:40the murder sentence on his own, reduce it to voluntary manslaughter and to give them
01:45time served.
01:46To me, that's exactly what should happen right now.
01:49What is their state of mind here?
01:51I mean, it you know, are they hopeful?
01:54Does this you know, they've been in prison for so long now.
01:59Does it feel like you don't want to get hopeful because it might be false hope?
02:03Or are they genuinely thinking, hey, we could get out of here?
02:06I've counseled them and they are on board with the ideas.
02:10You can't get too high.
02:11You can't get too low on these kinds of things.
02:14I will tell you that one of the things that's most impressive about them.
02:19They, since 2005, when they lost at the Ninth Circuit, have had no hope of ever getting
02:24out.
02:25So that's been roughly 17 years until we got involved with Cliff Gardner, got me involved
02:30with the renowned appellate attorney during that 17 years.
02:35They had done some of the best work and some of the best mitigation evidence I've ever
02:40seen of any prisoner who had absolutely no hope of ever getting out.
02:44So you can't say that they were gaining the system or that they were just trying to be
02:49on their best behavior to get out.
02:50They had no hope, none whatsoever.
02:53And they've done some amazing stuff.
02:54I've been down to that Donovan State Prison twice.
02:57They've got a green space project there that is incredibly impressive.
03:02I attended Lyle's graduation of the first class of University of California, Irvine,
03:08in conjunction with the Department of Corrections, who have 20 some odd students.
03:13And I will tell you, those guys were impressive.
03:15For George Gascon to have that whole press conference, to pull all the media out there,
03:20is there actually a realistic chance that in a month and a half from now, he gets up
03:23there and says, OK, status quo, nothing's changing here?
03:26I mean, something has to happen, right?
03:28You're speaking or you're channeling my inner thoughts.
03:31So I'm hopeful here.
03:33The fact that he said he's the one who's going to make the decision, that to me is important.
03:40The LADA's office is, I don't know, what is it Harvey, a thousand lawyers?
03:45And I've been dealing with that office for over 40 years.
03:49There are always, always going to be various factions that you've got to deal with when
03:54you're the DA.
03:55And that's why I'll end with or circle back with, it was incredibly brave because he's
04:00got factions there who are still part of the old guard who don't want to see anything to
04:05do with this because they believe the kind of 80s and 90s philosophy of just warehouse
04:11people, never let them get out.
04:13The truth of the matter is, 90 percent of the prisoners in the prison system are going
04:18to be let out at some point.
04:20So you better do something to get them equipped to assimilate.
04:23And that's exactly what the boys and the brothers are doing.