A lawyer for Erik and Lyle Menéndez has claimed he intends to file documents with California’s governor to seek clemency for the brothers.
Mark Geragos, an attorney representing Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, told TMZ on Tuesday, October 29, that he will file a petition with Gavin Newsom’s office “today,” less than one week after declaring that he believes the Menéndez brothers could be released from prison by Thanksgiving.
According to the official website for Governor Gavin Newsom, clemency can take the form of “a commutation of sentence,” which involves a reduced sentence, or a “pardon,” which provides “relief from punishment” and restores some civil rights for people who have been convicted of a crime.
“We have dual-tracks. I am doing everything possible, I’ve said publicly, I want them home not just for Thanksgiving but for Joan’s 93rd and to celebrate with Aunt Terry as well,” Geragos, 67, said, referring to Joan VanderMolen, the sister of murder victim Kitty Menéndez (Erik and Lyle’s mother), and Terry Barait, the sister of murder victim José Menéndez (the brothers’ father).
Us Weekly has reached out to Geragos for details into his filing and further comment.
The Menéndez brothers were sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1996 for the murder of Kitty and José and remain incarcerated at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón requested on October 24 during a press conference that the brothers be resentenced amid renewed public interest as a result of the Netflix limited series Monsters, and the documentary The Menéndez Brothers.
Geragos refused to comment on whether he had already been in touch with Newsom’s office regarding his clemency strategy for freeing the Menéndez brothers, telling the outlet during the interview, “by the time this airs, we will be on that path.”
The outlet claimed that “sources connected to the Governor’s office tell us they have the clemency petition on their radar.”
Geragos also confirmed during the interview that if and where a resentencing for the Menéndez brothers does take place, his legal team will request that their conviction be changed from murder to involuntary manslaughter.
If granted, the logic behind this change is that the siblings would immediately be released as a result of the prison time they have already served and the fact that they were both under the age of 26 when the crime occurred.
During Gascón’s October 24 announcement, he said, “They have been in prison for nearly 35 years. I believe that they have paid their debt to society.”
The suggestion is currently making its way to the judge on the case, who will have Gascón’s perspective go before the Board of Parole Hearings. Erik and Lyle would either have to serve the remaining balance of the new sentence or they could be eligible for parole.
Erik and Lyle were convicted of murdering their parents in their Beverly Hills, California, home in 1989 when the brothers were 18 and 21, respectively.
