People of a certain age will remember the Menendez brothers, Lyle and Erik. In 1989, when they were 21 and 17 years old, they shot and killed their parents in the family’s Beverly Hills mansion. Prosecutors alleged that they wanted their parents’ money, while the defense contended that the shootings were motivated by the brothers’ fear of sexual abuse at the hands of their father. I was living in California then and I remember the media frenzy. My wife was Lyle’s college classmate. So in our house, we have followed with interest the recent developments in the brothers’ cases. Both are serving life terms without the possibility of parole, and by all accounts, have been model inmates. They have habeas petitions pending alleging newly-discovered evidence that supports their claims of being victims of sexual abuse, including a letter allegedly written by one of the brothers eight months before the murders. Simultaneously, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon has moved for resentencing, contending that a reduced term that would render the brothers parole eligible immediately would be in the interests of justice in light of their ages at the time of the crimes and the abuse that they allegedly suffered. Both the habeas petition and the resentencing request are due to be heard in the next month or two, and of course, both are controversial. ABC News has more details here. Read on for more news. AP investigative report on sexual abuse in prison. This new AP story is hard to [...]
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