Ana Garcia is weighing in on the justice system.
After Lyle and Erik Menendez murdered their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez, on Aug. 20, 1989, the nation became engrossed in what came next. After two trials, the brothers were convicted in 1996 and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life without parole.
Now, those sentences have a shot at being reduced, meaning Lyle, 56, and Erik, 53, could be free men.
“The District Attorney of Los Angeles [George Gascón] has said he is recommending to a judge and filing paperwork to have the sentence reduced to 50 years to life,” the Emmy award-winning journalist explained. “So what does that mean? That means there’s something in California called the youthful offender law. And it means, if you are under the age of 26 at the time that the crime was committed, you will be eligible for parole. You have an opportunity to be paroled.”
Lyle was 21, and Erik was 18 at the time of their parents’ murders.
“So if he can get the judge to change the sentence to 50 to life in prison, it kicks in eligibility for parole. And the district attorney saying he believes they should be released immediately, that they should be eligible for parole immediately,” Garcia elaborated. “The question is what will the judge do? Because the judge could make a decision in real time and say, ‘Okay, I’m reducing the sentence and I’m recommending that they be paroled.’”
The “True Crime News” host shared that the case would then go to the parole board.
They would “have to have a full hearing,” continued Garcia. “And in California, you can have a hearing, which is basically have they been modeled citizens? Do they show that they have been rehabilitated? Do they show remorse? Would they be a threat to the community if they were released? And then there would be recommendations from the victim’s family, which also happens to be Lyle and Eric’s family.”
“Plus what the District Attorney thinks, what the public might think. And then the parole board has 120 days from the time of the hearing to render a decision. Paroles are also like a check from the governor’s office. So Governor Newsom could not do anything, meaning they get paroled or he could veto it, which is unlikely.”
Some of the factors that play into this case being at the forefront of the media include having supporters like Kim Kardashian champion the siblings and their well-known attorney, Mark Geragos, who also defended Scott Peterson, who was convicted of the 2002 killing of his pregnant wife Laci Peterson and their unborn son Connor.
Another huge factor is the City of Angels itself.
“This case is so unique to California,” Garcia mused. “From the beginning, it’s been so California, so L.A. I mean, it’s Beverly Hills. It’s millionaires. It’s the entertainment community. It’s everything that it is to be wealthy and privileged in Los Angeles. Big media trial – really big, like at the forefront of media trials and then the circumstances around it. How they conducted themselves after the murders. One’s an Ivy League and the other one wanted to be a professional tennis player. This is the lifestyles of the rich and the famous on trial.”
“And so, then you put in our extremely progressive, liberal current district attorney who is facing a very harsh reelection, who believes in reform,” the news anchor admitted. “That this is what he considers reform. There’s one avenue also that’s being played right now by Mark Geragos. So, his third move here is going directly to Governor Newsom and asking for clemency. That doesn’t mean that he would absolve them of the crime. It just means that he would have the power to petition the governor. And lots of criminals do that. He would have the power to say, ‘Okay, I’m commuting your sentence. You are released immediately.’”
As for the likelihood of that happening? Garcia said, “That’s a possibility.”
“Is that going to happen in this political landscape? That’s the part I don’t know,” the podcast host confessed. “Personally, I think the wisest thing is to let this move through the courts, have a hearing, make that as public as possible – whether it’s the hearing on the reduction of the sentence or the hearing on the habeas corpus and the new evidence. I want them to be public. I want everyone to hear both sides of the argument. I think we should have testimony from the victims family, the survivors. I think that would be really important. They should be as transparent as possible.”
The crime reporter noted that Geragos “has three plates in the air” right now. One of which calls for new evidence to be brought into play.
“Now, that’s an entirely different way of looking at things because, in that case, they’re basically saying the new evidence is the letter from one of the Menendez brothers to his cousin, who’s now deceased, talking about the alleged abuse. [A] handwritten document that predates the murders by months. So it’s an independent document,” Garcia said. “And also, the member of the boy band Menudo, who says that he was sexually abused by Jose Menendez. So that judge could make a decision. That could be one of those decisions where the judge could say, ‘All right. I’m freeing you right now. We’re dropping the charges’ or could say, ‘Let’s have a new trial.’ I don’t think anyone wants a third trial. I don’t think that serves any interest here.”
But she also acknowledged that there are “a lot of Deputy DAs who are against their release and their resentencing.”
“District Attorney Gascón, when he originally said that he was looking at the new evidence in the case, he originally said, ‘I am not going to make a decision until after [the] election.’ And then last week, boom, it’s like a race everyone is running. It’s breaking news. He’s making an announcement and he’s doing it before Election Day. What happened? What’s the emergency? What it’s like there’s no emergency in this case. So, I do believe because he is behind in the polls,” Garcia expressed. “I believe that this was politically motivated on his part, perhaps for one or two reasons. One, to help his election, or two, if he really believes that the sentencing should be reduced and he wants to do this while he is still elected and in power, he’s got to do it. Let’s say if he loses the election, he’s got to do it and get this done before his term is over. So one of those two reasons could be what pushed it up or maybe even both of them.”
