Menendez Brothers' Resentencing Could Happen This Week — But Is It Politically Driven?
All hope is not lost for Erik and Lyle Menendez as the controversial brothers could soon see a big change to their original sentences for the murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez.
The embattled siblings, whose legal battle inspired Ryan Murphy's hit Netflix series "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story," could reportedly learn their fate this week after Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón confirmed that a decision for a possible resentencing is due out in the next few days.
"There's actually two different camps in my office. I have a group of people ... that are adamant that they should spend the rest of their life in prison and that they were not molested ... I have other people in the office that believe actually, that they probably were molested and that they deserve to have some relief," Gascón told CNN's Jake Tapper Tuesday. "I plan to have a decision by the end of this week."
Amid the DA's efforts to secure a resentencing, a political commentator has come out to accuse him of leveraging the case to secure a win come Election Day and keep his position in Los Angeles County.
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"The district attorney has turned the troubled brothers into a political prop," politics reporter and writer Alexander Nazaryan claimed in an opinion piece published for MSNBC over the weekend. He also pointed out how Gascón seemingly jumped on the case at the most suspicious time while trailing his rival candidate Nathan Hochman by 30% in the polls.
It should be noted that Gascón announced his interest in reviewing the convictions of the Menendez brothers weeks after the Netflix series dropped and new evidence was submitted, backing up the allegations of the sexual abuse the siblings suffered at the hands of their own father.
Nazaryan also observed how Gascón seemed to be strategically navigating the case in a bid to win over young voters by sharing "cringe-worthy" videos about the case on social media, particularly TikTok. "Gascón is clearly playing to a social media audience, as if his constituency were entirely in cyberspace," the political writer stated.
Gascón, for his part, has not responded to the claims that his efforts to secure a resentencing for the brothers are politically driven, only telling the press, "We have a moral and ethical obligation to review what is being presented to us and make a determination."
A hearing on the case is scheduled for November 26.