Family Members Hold Presser to Free Menendez Brothers

Erik and Lyle Menendez killed their parents, Jose and Kitty.

That has never really been at issue.

In fact, they snuck up on them and shotgunned both of them from behind – Kitty wasn’t quite dead so one of the brothers went out to the car, reloaded, went back into the house and shot her once more in the face.

A first trial ended in a hung jury, with the men on the jury saying first degree murder and the women saying manslaughter.

The second trial resulted in the pair being found guilty of first degree murder and being sentenced to life without the possibility of parole – that was about 30 years ago, when LWOP actually meant something in California.

But, as the years have gone by, what has also become likely to be true is that their dad Jose horribly sexually abused them for years and that their mother Kitty did nothing about it – hence the ongoing questions of the propriety of the sentences.

And that was the main thrust of a press conference organized by famous and/or infamous attorney Mark Geragos who is now working to get the brothers freed ASAP.

“No jury today would issue such a harsh sentence,” said Kitty’s sister Joan Andersen VanderMolen at today’s event.

Kitty’s niece, Karen VanderMolen-Copley, echoed a similar sentiment, saying the brothers lived in “constant fear” of their father’s abuse.

After the formal event, Karen was heard saying on a “hot mic” “God willing, I never have to do this again.”

Another cousin, Alan Andersen, said the brothers “acted out of fear” and, echoing every other speaker at the press conference, said there is no possible way such a severe sentence would be handed down in today’s environment.

That is almost certainly true, considering the state of California’s criminal justice system. 

The murders were pre-meditated, end of discussion. Then, that eliminated the idea of a self-defense and/or a “heat of the moment” manslaughter defense.  

But would a deeper discussion of the abuse at their second trial (it was pretty much barred) have changed the jury’s mind and ended up with a manslaughter conviction instead? 

Then, possibly.

Today, absolutely. In other words, they may have a debating point.

And that is what the push for the brothers’ release is basing itself upon, the “things have changed” argument. Unquestionably true, but actually technically meaningless. Sentences do not automatically change because new sentencing guidelines are put in place.

But a possibly more persuasive argument is that Erik and Lyle have spent 34 years in prison and is that too much time, especially considering both changing attitudes in society towards abusive situations and, especially California’s own changing sentencing guidelines?

In other words, 30-ish years is a lot longer stretch than people tend to get now, especially involving cases handled by Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon.

Gascon has said publicly that 15 years in prison should be the maximum for pretty much any crime. It is his belief in “criminal justice,” he says, that has led his office to review the case in light of requesting a judge to re-examine and/or even release the brothers, basically on time served.

There are legitimate arguments for doing so, but the unquestionably political nature of Gascon bringing this issue to the fore only weeks away from the November election throw his ethics into question.

In fact, a number of today’s press conference speakers went out of their way to say the newly energized effort was not at all in any way no way not at all, nuh-uh political. Yeah, right.

And not every member of the family is on board with freeing the brothers.

Kitty’s brother Milton Andersen has retained legal counsel to counter the effort.

Andersen’s attorney, Kathleen Cady, said her client strongly believes there was no abuse in the household and that the entire motivation for the killings was greed.

While the brothers have maintained that they were worried about what their father would do if they exposed his abuse, Cady said the real truth is that Jose said he would cut them out of the will if they didn’t either get jobs, go to school, and/or focus on their unquestionable tennis talents (Erik hit 44^th rankings of the national rankings for the under 18-year-old age group before the murders.)

Cady noted court documents showed the brothers got the guns using false names, started extravagantly spending the family’s money within hours of the murders, and, again, emphasized the killings were unquestionably planned.

As to Gascon’s sudden very public interest in the case? Cady has a simple answer – he went public to crush the headlines about his handling of the case of killer Shanice Dyer.

Story appears in the LA Times (days, I must add, after we had it in the Globe) about Gascon’s policies essentially making sure Dyer got released and she went ahead and participated on another murder months later and – boom, the same day – Gascon changes the media focus by talking about the Menendez brothers.

There is a legitimate debate to be held about whether or not the brothers should remain in prison – is 30-plus years enough?

But there is no legitimate debate to be held about why Gascon has suddenly gone public with the case – he thinks it will get him votes.

And for anyone still backing him because “well, he’s not good but at least he’s ethical” reasons, well, that’s about that for that idea, isn’t it?