Menendez Brothers to petition California Governor Gavin Newsom for Clemency
A lawyer for Erik again Lyle Menendez He says he intends to file papers with the governor of California to ask for mercy for the brothers.
Mark Geragossaid the attorney representing Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56 TMZ on Tuesday, October 29, where he will file a petition Gavin NewsomThe office of “today,” less than a week later announced that it believed the Menéndez brothers could be released from prison by Thanksgiving.
According to Governor Gavin Newsom’s official website, clemency can take the form of a “sentence commutation,” which includes a reduced sentence, or a “pardon,” which provides “relief from punishment” and restores certain civil rights to people convicted of a crime.
“We have two songs. I’m doing everything possible, I’ve said publicly, I want them to go home not just for Thanksgiving but with Joan who is 93 and celebrate with Aunt Terry,” said Geragos, 67, referring to. Joan VanderMolenthe sister of the murder victim Kitty Menendez (Mother of Erik and Lyle), and Terry Baraitthe sister of the murder victim Jose Menendez (father of my brothers).
Us Weekly link to Geragos for details in his filing and additional comments.
The Menéndez brothers were sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1996 for the murders of Kitty and José and remain incarcerated at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. Los Angeles County Attorney George Gascón requested on October 24 at a press conference that the brothers be fired due to renewed public interest in the Netflix limited series Monstersand a documentary The Menendez Brothers.
Geragos declined to comment on whether he had contacted Newsom’s office about his plan to free the Menendez brothers, telling the station during the interview, “By the time we broadcast, we’ll be on that path.”
The agency said “sources connected to the Government office tell us they have a pardon application on their radar.”
Geragos also confirmed during the interview that if and when the Menéndez brothers are convicted, his legal team will request that their convictions be changed from murder to involuntary manslaughter.
If approved, the idea of this change is that the brothers will be released soon because of the time the prisoners have already been incarcerated and that both were under 26 years old when the crime happened.
When Gascón made the announcement on October 24, he said, “They have been in prison for almost 35 years. I believe that they have paid their debt to society.”
The motion is currently on its way to the judge in this case, which will have Gascón’s opinion before the Parole Hearing Board. Erik and Lyle will have to serve the remaining balance of the new sentence or be eligible for parole.
Erik and Lyle were convicted of murdering their parents in their home in Beverly Hills, California, in 1989 when the brothers were 18 and 21, respectively.
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