Menendez Brothers’ Lawyer Is Confident They’ll Be Home for Thanksgiving

After 35 long years behind bars, the Menendez Brothers might actually be coming home in time for Thanksgiving.

In a new update, attorney Mark Geragos announced at a press conference on October 24th that “before Thanksgiving, they will be home. I still believe that.”

This follows Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon’s recent recommendation that Erik, 53, and Lyle, 56, be resentenced due to new evidence and their exemplary behavior as model prisoners over the decades.

Thanksgiving is November 28th. Therefore, the real game-changer will be the Los Angeles Superior Court hearing scheduled for November 26th. At this hearing, a judge could decide to reduce their sentences, taking into account Gascon’s advice. The judge might even order a new trial based on the fresh evidence.

Despite all this momentum, a parole board will still have to review their case before they’re officially released. Even if every legal hurdle is cleared, they might still not make it home for Turkey Day.

The shocking developments in the Menendez brothers’ decades-long saga began back in 1996, when they were sentenced to life without parole for the brutal 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in Beverly Hills. The brothers initially claimed they acted in self-defense due to years of alleged sexual abuse by their father, which their mother reportedly ignored. The first trial ended with a hung jury, but the second, after a judge allegedly excluded critical abuse testimony, resulted in life sentences with no parole option.

The brothers’ attorneys, in a fresh twist, filed a habeas petition in May 2023, introducing letters Erik wrote and new testimony from former Menudo member Roy Rossello alleging abuse by Jose. Gascon’s recent statement suggested that while they’d still serve a murder sentence, it could be 50 years to life with parole eligibility.

In Gascon’s words, “Even though they didn’t think that they would ever be let free, they engaged in a different journey: a journey of redemption and a journey of rehabilitation.”