Erik and Lyle
Erik and Lyle
A move to free the Menendez Brothers gathers steam
L.A.’s most noir year might have been 1989.
Despair hovered everywhere. Serial killers (multiple!) prowled city streets and gangs warring over crack cocaine distribution shot up rivals outside churches, funeral parlors and occasionally on grandma’s porch.
Back then, Skid Row vagrants mostly lived in cheap hotels on 7th Street that are boarded up now. And, the LAPD under Darryl Gates recruited young officers like Rafael Perez who would later become notorious for his role in the brutal and corruption that grew out of the Rampart scandal. Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker, once lived here, now he was on trial, and facing the death penalty.
The Dodgers, fresh off a World Series win over the A’s in 1988 were in a devastating slump. At City Hall, Mayor Tom Bradley found himself embroiled in a twisted scandal for allegedly depositing city money in a Chinatown bank that paid him $18,000 to be their special advisor.
There was plenty of news to print for the LA Times and the Los Angeles Herald Examiner that summer, probably none of it as exciting as the slayings of Jose and Kitty Menendez on Sunday Aug. 20.
The Times’ story two days later was particularly breathless.
A Los Angeles video entertainment executive who once headed RCA / Ariola records as well as U.S. operations for the Hertz Corporation was found shot to death along with his wife in their Beverly Hills mansion, authorities said Monday.
The bodies found Jose E. Menendez, 45, and Mary Louise (Kitty) Menendez, 44, were discovered in their North Elm Drive home by their two college-age sons, who had been out for the evening.
Police received a 911 call from one of them at 11:47 p.m.
“It was a very hysterical call,” said Lt. Robert Curtis, spokesman for the Beverly Hills Police Department.
…
“Both had been shot repeatedly “throughout the body,” said Craig Harvey, acting investigative supervisor for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.
The Times also made sure to let readers know the double homicide was “ A Rare Event”
The 911 Call and police responseUltimately, Jose and Kitty’s sons were convicted in the slayings. Court documents shed light on the brutality of the event, noting that the brothers emptied two Mossburg shot guns into their parents, then reloading before emptying the guns in a second volley.
Now 35 years after the crime, outgoing Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon is asking the state to exonerate Erik and Lyle and release them from state prison under a California resentencing law that has reshaped criminal justice in the state and resulted in the early release of hundreds of convicted killers.
This is the same law that Paul Garcia hoped would get him set free.
Police arrested Garcia in 2008 in connection with the shooting death of Mark Achilli, a Los Gatos, California businessman and bar owner, who sold a North Santa Cruz Avenue nightclub and restaurant to Garcia and his brother.
Garcia’s case is chronicled across this blog. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, and Part 9.
Detectives and prosecutors said Garcia paid a hired killer to murder Achilli because Garcia and Achilli were involved with the same woman. Garcia has repeatedly said he is not guilty and has petitioned federal and state courts to be released or resentenced. Unlike what’s happening with the Menendez brothers, Garcia’s motions have repeatedly been denied.
Why?
Several factors are at play.
Los Angeles County has elected several new District Attorneys since 1989 — Ira Reiner, Gil Garcetti, Steve Cooley, Jackie Lacey and George Gascon. And, LA County will likely elect a new D.A. Tuesday night.
Cooley, Lacey and Gascon have all occupied the office since 2010, when Garcia was tried. By contrast Santa Clara County D.A. Jeff Rosen personally prosecuted Garcia and remains in office now.
On top of that Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg, who oversaw the Menendez case, retired in 2008. He’ll have no say in the hearing on Gascon’s motion to free the brothers. Neither will Reiner, Garcetti, Lacey or Cooley.
In Garcia’s case, Judge David A. Cena oversaw the trial and has been on the bench since, playing a role in the denial of Garcia’s attempts to have his guilt reconsidered.
If it seems unfair, it probably is.
In an telephone interview from Valley State Prison, in Chowchilla, Calif. where he is incarcerated, Garcia pointed to Rosen’s official county website and said he believes the Santa Clara County DA should rethink his entire prosecution.
“Look at Rosen's profile on his website, on D.A.s website where he talks about (how his office has) the integrity of any DA in the country,” Garcia said. “If that's true, then you should say, ‘Oh, yeah, it's a mistake. But let's go ahead and correct it.’ Right?”
Rosen is no Gascon.
It’s not just the Menendez brothers case that is getting a second look. Scott Peterson will also get another bite of the apple in court.
Peterson was sentenced to life in prison for killing his pregnant wife Laci and unborn son Connor in 2002. He’s got the Innocence Project in his corner and recently asked for a reexamination of the evidence.
"Mr. Peterson’s been waiting for 20 years for police reports and audio recordings and video recordings that should have been provided," Paula Mitchell, executive director of The Innocence Project, said during a March court hearing, according to the Los Angeles Times. "We are eager to get our investigation underway."
Peterson's attorneys believe a burglary that occurred sometime between Dec. 24, 2002 — the day Laci vanished — and Dec. 26, 2002, at a home in the Peterson’s neighborhood could be linked to the homicide. According to NBC Bay Area, Peterson’s attorneys also believe a burned-out van found near the Peterson home might hold other clues that have been ignored.
“They have exonerated many people throughout the years by using up-to-date DNA technology and other forensic information and they're going to bring that expertise to Scott Peterson's case,” said legal analyst, Steven Clark. “The Innocence Project is going to start from the ground up and they're going to look at the case as to whether there's any alternative theories as to what happened to Laci and Conner Peterson.”
He said that among the things attorneys will be focused on, is a van that was burned near Laci’s home.
“What they want to do is go through that van with a fine tooth comb and analyze whether any DNA was there from Laci Peterson,” said Clark. “That will be a very big deal.”
On Oct. 7, San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Hill approved Peterson's request for a post-conviction discovery period.
Even with the the rethinking of these very high profile murder cases, Garcia’s pleas to have his case reexamined by the Innocence Project or his trial judge have largely been ignored. He believes evidence reviewed objectively would show he’s innocent and that the murder of Achilli had nothing to do with a love triangle, but was actually related to drug dealing.