L.A. County District Attorney George Gascón just announced he will ask a judge to free Erik and Lyle Menendez ... the 2 brothers convicted of murdering their parents.
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00:00I have been a reporter for many decades, and today was one of the most dramatic moments I have ever seen.
00:07The Menendez brothers could become free men.
00:11There was a news conference today by the L.A. County D.A., George Gascon,
00:15and he said that he is opening that door to allow the Menendez brothers,
00:20who are serving a term of life without parole right now, to get out of prison.
00:26And it could happen sooner than later, like we're talking before Thanksgiving,
00:31that they are free men, because the L.A. County District Attorney, George Gascon,
00:36held his news conference today and announced his decision and explained
00:42why he feels that this is the right move to recommend resentencing.
00:48I have to tell you that after a very careful review of all the arguments that were made for
00:55people on both sides of this equation, I came to a place where I believe that under the law,
01:04resentencing is appropriate, and I am going to recommend that to a court tomorrow.
01:10So let me explain how this works. Tomorrow, George Gascon's office will file legal documents
01:18asking a judge to resentence the Menendez brothers. Now, as I said,
01:23they're both serving terms of life without the possibility of parole.
01:27I'm not going to get into the legal gobbledygook, but the bottom line is, based on the law,
01:32Gascon is going to say they are eligible for immediate parole if the judge agrees to resentence.
01:40That would mean that if the judge does that and says, yep, they will be entitled to immediate
01:45parole, it would then go to the parole board in California. They would hold a hearing and
01:52decide whether to release the Menendez brothers. But I will say, even though Gascon said this,
01:58we have heard this over the years, they have been model prisoners behind bars.
02:03Right, that they have actually, not only have they, behavior has been exemplary,
02:07they have also done a lot of things to help other inmates. And everyone has said that, that they
02:13are, you know, they have been rehabilitated. And George Gascon said that he does not feel
02:19there's any danger to society at large if they were to be released.
02:23So if they jump that hurdle with the judge tomorrow, and we'll get into it. We don't know who the judge is.
02:30Right. Someone's got to be assigned.
02:32And I will say, Gascon said there was even conflict within his own office, because that's the office
02:37that prosecuted the Menendez brothers. There are people in his office, deputy DAs, who believe
02:42that they were not sexually molested by Jose Menendez.
02:45That they should remain in prison.
02:46And they should for the rest of their lives. And some believe that they should be let out.
02:51So we don't know what the sensibility of the judge is, who is going to end up getting this case.
02:56And that's the person who matters more than anybody at this point.
02:59This is just the first domino that had to fall.
03:02Yes.
03:02But the judge would be the next domino. And we don't know, one, don't know who the judge is.
03:07And if the judge is going to agree that they should get parole.
03:10If the judge should be re-sentenced.
03:12If the judge says no, it's over.
03:13Everything stops.
03:14It's over.
03:16And that's a huge deal tomorrow.
03:19Yeah. And there's something going on in the background of all this,
03:21which is an upcoming election.
03:22George Gascon is not a very popular district attorney right now.
03:25There's an election in around two weeks.
03:27He's 24 points behind his opponent.
03:29A lot of people think this is being expedited in a nakedly political fashion
03:34to garner votes for that election, maybe close that gap up.
03:37And that had this unseemly sort of feel to the entire spectacle to me.
03:40He's talking about his divided office.
03:42Usually the prosecutors speak with one voice.
03:44This just has an icky feel to me.
03:46Well, and also, Derek, we should mention that there was a hearing set
03:50on this very issue for late next month.
03:53But the thing is, Gascon is up for re-election a week from Tuesday.
03:57So it's entirely possible if he had stuck with that original date,
04:01he could have been voted out of office at that point.
04:03And then it's not really on.
04:05Nothing may have happened.
04:06Right.
04:06So did he accelerate this because of the election?
04:11Well, you decide that.
04:13But there's one other thing he said openly,
04:15which honestly, if Jason's there, I've never heard this before.
04:19He said that one of the operative factors on accelerating things
04:24was the recent documentary on the Menendez brothers.
04:28The documentary.
04:29There's also the scripted series that has gotten a lot of attention.
04:33And you're right for him in this news conference.
04:36I've never heard this.
04:37That that had an influence on his decision.
04:39I have never heard this.
04:42Yeah, I've never heard it either.
04:43I've never heard it admitted.
04:44We know that it happens, right?
04:45We know that politicians and a district attorney is simply a politician.
04:48He's elected to the office.
04:50We know that politicians are affected by public perception.
04:54We know the public perception is sometimes affected by documentaries
04:57and other things in pop culture.
04:59What's odd here is that he admitted it so freely.
05:02And it really does play into, I think, something Derek was talking about a minute ago,
05:06this incredibly difficult re-election cycle that he's in.
05:10The reason he's so unpopular is because he's known as somebody
05:13who's been very soft on crime over the years.
05:16This sort of plays into that.
05:17But nevertheless, it may be his last ditch effort to claim some sort of victory
05:22that he can then carry into the campaign or the voter week from Tuesday.
05:27But it seems a very odd way of doing it.
05:29But nevertheless, I think it's bizarre that he expressly referenced the documentary.
05:34It sure is.
05:36Almost like you don't want to talk about the election part,
05:38so this is the best second way of doing it.
05:40Now, speaking of second ways, there was a second way that he could have done this.
05:44And the second way, rather than just saying we're going for resentencing,
05:48he could have gone to a judge and said,
05:50look, based on the sexual abuse, which he believes occurred,
05:56reduce the conviction from murder to voluntary manslaughter.
06:03That has been done before.
06:04And if they did it that way, the Menendez brothers would not be considered murderers.
06:10And if they were, if the judge did that,
06:13the maximum sentence for voluntary manslaughter is 11 years,
06:17and they'd be immediately free.
06:18You wouldn't even have to go to a parole board.
06:20You wouldn't have to do that.
06:21But something about that, and we talked about this yesterday,
06:23seemed unseemly to me because you had a jury that did convict them of murder.
06:29And now you're just going to hand it over.
06:31But that's happened before with cold cases, with new evidence.
06:33That happens with cold cases.
06:36I know you disagree.
06:36New evidence.
06:37I know.
06:38I know you disagree with that.
06:39Yeah.
06:40It really looked like he was trying to thread the needle here by saying,
06:42I don't excuse the conduct at all.
06:44I'm focusing on how much they've rehabilitated while in prison,
06:47and they should be resentenced for that because they're model citizens now.
06:49And he said, look, what they did was murder.
06:51And he said it should remain murder on the books.
06:53So I at least give him credit for that much.
06:54It was interesting that they had some of the relatives of
06:58Jose and Kitty Menendez in the front row.
07:02In fact, they even got name checked before the news conference began,
07:06which immediately tipped his hand because he said,
07:09I want to recognize and mentioned all the names of the family members there.
07:14Two other things.
07:15And I just want to get into this.
07:16Gascon said that he didn't make a final decision until an hour before the news conference.
07:22That's bizarre to me because he announced there was going to be a news conference yesterday.
07:26So how do you announce yesterday you're going to have a news conference when you
07:29don't know what you're going to say?
07:30Well, but he said he's going to make his decision.
07:32So that part I can see.
07:34Well, you do.
07:35You don't do that when you haven't made the decision.
07:38But you know you're going to make the decision.
07:39You've given yourself a deadline.
07:41And the deadline is tomorrow.
07:43And we're going to come to a final decision.
07:45This is as crazy as people saying they don't know who
07:47they're going to vote for in the election.
07:48I mean, come on.
07:49There are some people who say that.
07:51George Gascon knew a long time ago that he was going to make the exact decision that he did.
07:54Now, I give him credit that he actually apparently went to the people in his office,
07:58got their, got their, took their opinions.
08:01And eventually, and he's the head, so he makes the ultimate decision.
08:04And there were dissenters in his office.
08:05And he mentioned that not only can they dissent, but that they can appear in court
08:10to oppose the efforts to release the Menendez brothers.
08:13Which could eventually happen once they assign a judge.
08:16Which could happen once they assign a judge.
08:18Last thing we want to talk about.
08:19We broke a story on the website earlier today that if they get out,
08:24Eric Menendez, the younger Menendez, by the way, they're now in their 50s,
08:28Eric will move to Las Vegas and live with his wife.
08:32And I know that sounds like a pretty obvious, obvious thing.
08:34But they, yeah, they've been married for 25 years.
08:38They were dating for, I guess, well, it's weird to say dating,
08:42but they had a relationship.
08:43Never had a conjugal visit.
08:45Yeah.
08:46But his intention is to do exactly that.
08:50We don't know what Lyle's intention is.
08:52He too is married.
08:54But we just don't know what his plan is.
08:56There is another story we broke about what's going on in their,
08:59the prison where they are, which is in San Diego County.
09:02Clearly they are confident about the chances,
09:05their chances for getting out.
09:06And so are their fellow inmates.
09:08We found out that there are people and other inmates
09:11who are basically putting in dibs on their belongings.
09:14That they want souvenirs from the Menendez brothers.
09:18And clearly they recognize something that is very obvious.
09:21These guys are going to be celebrities.
09:26The brass ring for all media, for news, documentaries, reality show.
09:32They are the brass ring.
09:35Everybody wants to sit down with the Menendez brothers
09:39and just have them open up.
09:45I'm Nina from Dallas, Texas.
09:47I believe that he held them accountable and that it is political.
09:52But at the same time, I think they deserve this.
09:56I think that they will do great things
09:57and they'll show us what real advocacy is.
10:00If they're rehabilitated, then, you know,
10:03if what we've heard about their lives in prison,
10:06if they continue that on the outside,
10:08then George Gascon is vindicated, right?
10:12In this decision.
10:13Yeah, just real quick, just to recap.
10:16So the DA will file legal documents tomorrow
10:20asking a judge to re-sentence Eric and Lyle Menendez.
10:23There will probably be a hearing.
10:26Probably you'll hear from both sides in the hearing.
10:29The judge will decide and if the DA gets his way,
10:32it will then go over to the parole board.
10:34And if it goes to the parole board,
10:36my money is on them saying the Menendez brothers should be free.
10:38And once it gets to the parole board,
10:40then it doesn't matter if George Gascon wins or not.
10:42That's right.
10:43Once the judge decides, that's it.