“It looked like a mob hit”

Los Angeles District Attorney’s Motion to Grant Two Convicted Felonies, the Menendez brothersa chance to get out of prison despite life sentences without parole disappointed a Florida counterpart who noted the premeditated brutality Erik and Lyle Menendez inflicted on their mother.

On August 20, 1989, the brothers entered their parents’ Beverly Hills mansion with rifles 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 think the murder of Kitty, the mother of the Menendez brothers, is not discussed enough,” Palm Beach State’s Attorney Dave Aronberg told Fox News Digital. “There is no credible allegation that she was involved in sexual abuse and as far as we know … both parents were sitting on the sofa with their backs to each other watching TV (and) eating ice cream when the two distressed came behind them and killed them. .”

The Prosecutor of the Menendez Brothers announces the resentencing decision

Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon, who is facing a tough re-election in less than two weeks, invited the media and some of the Menendez brothers’ relatives to his announcement Thursday afternoon when he said “resentment is appropriate“and promised to ask a court to make the brothers immediately eligible for parole.

They have been jailed for more than 30 years to life without the possibility of parole for the double murder in 1989. The brothers claim they killed their father in self-defense because they feared he would kill them after warned that they intend to expose it as child sexual abuse.

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After killing their father, whom they accused of child molestation and abuse, and wounding their mother, they had to go outside for more shells. They reloaded and went back inside to finish it off, in a scene so bloody, a forensics investigator later told Fox News Digital a detective. he held up an umbrella to stop the blood pouring from the ceiling.

“I understand why the district attorney did what he did when it came to the father’s murder,” Aronberg told Fox News Digital. “It was alleged that the father sexually abused the boys and there is new evidence that this may be true.”

However, there is nothing to mitigate the killing of their mother, he said.

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Dr. Robert Lawrence of Stockton, Calif., holds a mannequin depicting Kitty Menendez's bullet wounds during the 1995 murder trial of the Menendez brothersDr. Robert Lawrence of Stockton, Calif., holds a mannequin depicting Kitty Menendez's bullet wounds during the 1995 murder trial of the Menendez brothers

Dr. Robert Lawrence of Stockton, Calif., holds a mannequin depicting the gunshot wounds of Kitty Menendez during the second murder trial of the Menendez brothers on November 6, 1995. At right is another mannequin depicting the wounds to Jose Menendez.

“There was so much blood it looked like a mob hit, and Kitty didn’t die right away,” he continued. “She was actually crawling away, trying to save her life, trying to get away. And Lyle Menendez went back to his car, got out and reloaded.”

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While Kitty Menendez’s sister, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, 92, and many other family members have publicly supported a reduced sentence for her killers, her brother, Milton Andersen, 90, opposes vehemently for any leniency.

Joan Andersen VanderMolen, sister of Kitty Menendez, speaks at a news conferenceJoan Andersen VanderMolen, sister of Kitty Menendez, speaks at a news conference

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, hold a news conference at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles on October 16, 2024 .

“It is Milton Andersen’s continuing belief that the molestation claims were made up and that they were false and he believes that the correct verdict was issued by the jury and the correct sentence was also served,” his attorney, Kathleen Cady, told Fox News Digital.

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Making matters worse, while Gascon repeatedly met with VanderMolen’s side, he ignored her brother, Cady said.

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

The grave of Jose and Kitty MenendezThe grave of Jose and Kitty Menendez

Snow covers the grave of Jose and Kitty Menendez on January 10, 1994 in Princeton, New Jersey.

Andersen, through his attorney, said he rejected the defense’s claims of child abuse and agreed with trial prosecutors, who showed the siblings spent $700,000 following their parents’ deaths.

“Milton Andersen’s continued belief that the allegations of molestation were fabricated and false and he believes that the correct verdict was reached by the jury and that the correct sentence was handed down,” Cady told Fox News Digital. “One of the concerns for him, and it should be for everybody really, was at the trial, the Menendez brothers tried to get two particular witnesses to come in and lie for them.”

Menendez family photo from the 1980sMenendez family photo from the 1980s

An undated photo of the Menendez family as it appears on screen during a panel at CrimeCon 2024 in Nashville, Tenn., on June 2. Brothers Lyle and Erik were convicted of fatally shooting their parents in 1989.

Lyle Menendez, who shot parents to death with brother, plans for life after prison

A court would have to approve the resentencing for it to become 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 dismiss the resentencing and noted in court filings that the brothers tried to get two friends to lie to them at trial.

Erik Menendez (L) and his brother Lyle (R) listen during a preliminary hearingErik Menendez (L) and his brother Lyle (R) listen during a preliminary hearing

Erik Menendez, left, and his brother Lyle listen during a preliminary hearing Dec. 29, 1992, in Los Angeles after the two pleaded not guilty in the August 1989 shooting deaths of their wealthy parents, Jose and Mary Louise Menendez of Beverly Hills, California.

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

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

“They’ve been in prison for almost 35 years,” he said. “I think they paid their debt to society.”

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 recent documentaries brought new attention to their case, including one on FOX Nationand the defense produced two new pieces of evidence that could corroborate the brothers’ claim that their father was a child abuser.

Fox News’ Mollie Markowitz contributed to this report.

Source of the original article: Menendez brothers’ resentment ignores brutality of Kitty’s execution, lawyer says: ‘Looked like a mob hit’