Menendez brothers' resentencing ignores Kitty's brutal execution, lawyer says

The Los Angeles district attorney's decision to give two convicted murderers, the Menendez brothers, a chance to get out of prison despite serving life sentences without parole has stunned a Florida counterpart who has pointed to the premeditated brutality that Erik and Lyle Menendez inflicted on their mother.

On August 20, 1989, the brothers went into their parents' Beverly Hills mansion with shotguns and opened fire while Jose Menendez and Mary “Kitty” Menendez were eating in front of the television in the living room at 10:30 p.m

“I don’t think there’s enough discussion about the murder of Kitty, the Menendez brothers’ mother,” Palm Beach District Attorney Dave Aronberg told Fox News Digital. “There is no credible allegation that she was sexually abused, and as far as we know, both parents were sitting on the couch, turning around, watching TV (and eating ice cream) while the two brothers came up behind them and murdered them.” “

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Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon, right, shakes hands with members of the Menendez family after addressing the case of brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez at a news conference at the Hall of Justice in Los Angeles on Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon, who faces a difficult re-election in less than two weeks, invited the media and some of the Menendez brothers' relatives to his announcement Thursday afternoon, in which he declared that “a resentencing is in order” and promised , ask a court that immediately guarantees the brothers a right to probation.

Because of the double murder in 1989, they have been in prison for more than 30 years with life sentences without the possibility of parole.

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Lyle and Erik Menendez (center) sit with defense attorney Leslie Abramson during a hearing on November 26, 1990 in Beverly Hills Municipal Court. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

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After killing their father, whom they accused of child abuse, and injuring their mother, they had to go outside to get more grenades. They reloaded and came back inside to finish them off, in a scene so bloody that a forensic investigator later told Fox News Digital that a detective held up an umbrella to block the blood dripping from the ceiling.

“I understand why the district attorney did what he did when it came to the murder of the father,” Aronberg told Fox News Digital. “The father has been accused of sexually abusing the boys and there is some new evidence that this may be true.”

However, there was nothing that could mitigate her mother's murder, he said.

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Dr. Robert Lawrence of Stockton, California, holds a mannequin depicting the shotgun wounds of Kitty Menendez during the second murder trial of the Menendez brothers on November 6, 1995. On the right sits another mannequin illustrating Jose Menendez's wounds. (Boris Yaro/Los Angeles Times)

“There was so much blood that it looked like a mob attack, and Kitty didn't die immediately,” he continued. “In fact, she was crawling away, trying to save her life, trying to escape. And Lyle Menendez went back to his car, went outside and reloaded.”

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While Kitty Menendez's sister, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, 92, and many other family members have publicly supported reducing the sentence for her killers, her brother, Milton Andersen, 90, is vehemently opposed to any leniency.

Joan Andersen VanderMolen, sister of Kitty Menendez, speaks as family members of Erik and Lyle Menendez, the Beverly Hills brothers convicted of murdering their parents, attend a news conference at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center on October 16, 2024 in Los Angeles. (REUTERS/Mike Blake)

“Milton Andersen continues to believe that the harassment allegations were fabricated and false, and he believes that….” correct judgment was waived by the jury and the appropriate sentence was imposed,” his attorney Kathleen Cady told Fox News Digital.

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Making matters worse, Gascon ignored her brother while repeatedly meeting with VanderMolen's side, Cady said.

“Florida has Marsy’s Law, which applies in California and other states where you have to listen to families,” Aronberg said. “You don’t necessarily have to do what the families recommend, but you have to listen to them.”

Snow covers the gravesite of Jose and Kitty Menendez on January 10, 1994 in Princeton, New Jersey. (Yvonne Hemsey/Getty Images)

Andersen has said through his attorney that he rejects the defense's claims of child abuse and agrees with prosecutors who have shown the brothers went on a $700,000 spending spree after their parents' deaths.

“Milton Andersen's continued belief that the harassment allegations were fabricated and false, and he believes the jury returned the right verdict and the right sentence was imposed,” Cady told Fox News Digital. “One of the concerns for him, and that should be true for everyone, was that during the trial the Menendez brothers tried to get two particular witnesses to lie on their behalf.”

An undated photo of the Menendez family as it appears on the screen during a panel discussion at CrimeCon 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee, June 2. Brothers Lyle and Erik were convicted of fatally shooting their parents in 1989. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)

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A court would have to approve the resentencing to make it official, and the parole board would then have to approve their release before they could be released.

Andersen's team is asking the court to deny the resentencing, noting in court records that the brothers tried to convince two friends to lie on their behalf in court.

Erik Menendez (left) and his brother Lyle listen during a trial hearing in Los Angeles on December 29, 1992, after the two met in the August 1989 gun deaths of their wealthy parents, Jose and Mary Louise Menendez of Beverly Hills. on those who are innocent. California. (Vince Bucci/AFP via Getty Images)

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Because they were under 26 at the time of the murders, under current California law they would be immediately eligible for a parole hearing with new sentences ranging from 50 years to life.

During his briefing Thursday, Gascon also rejected the argument that the father's abuse suggested the brothers might have committed manslaughter rather than murder. He said the premeditation was too much for this defense to overcome.

“You have been in prison for almost 35 years,” he said. “I believe they have paid their debt to society.”

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Gascon is up for re-election in less than two weeks and faces a strong challenge from independent candidate Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor.

Critics called his involvement in the high-profile case a move of political desperation.

However, there is also some public support for the brothers' release after a series of new documentaries brought new attention to their case, including one on FOX Nation, and the defense presented two new pieces of evidence that support the brothers' claim that they … Father was a child molester.

Fox News' Mollie Markowitz contributed to this report.