Do The Menendez Brothers Deserve Freedom? Patch Readers Weigh In

LOS ANGELES, CA — As the Lyle and Erik Menendez ready to make their case for resentencing at a court hearing Friday, Patch posed a question to readers: Do the brothers deserve to get out of prison?

[SURVEY RESULTS BELOW]

Friday's hearing centers around the question of whether the brothers should be resentenced for the 1989 shotgun murder of their parents, Jose and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez. They're serving life without parole, but a judge could find that they're eligible for a lesser sentence, which could provide a path for them to get out of prison at some point.

There's been some complications with this effort — the current district attorney is hoping to reverse his predecessor's in-court endorsement of resentencing.

But that's just one concurrent avenue the brothers are pursuing in their bid to freedom. They're also asking Gov. Gavin Newsom for clemency, a request that's under review, and their attorney is also seeking a new trial as part of a habeas petition.

Simply put: There's a lot of simultaneous effort going into the question of the Menendez brothers' freedom and a very real possibility that they could be freed from prison, either in the new future or at some point in their lives.

Members of the brothers' family have cited a shift in public sentiment in favor of the Menendezes as one reason why they've been able to gain traction here.

We sent out a survey to readers last month with several questions about the Menendez case and received nearly 2,400 responses. The results show a near-even split between those open to leniency and those totally opposed to it.

Asked whether they personally believe the Menendez brothers deserve freedom at this time, a slight majority — 51.2% of respondents — said no, that the brothers should serve their sentences of life without parole.

"They came into the house with two loaded shotguns. They shot Jose six times, and Kitty ten times before they finished her off as she crawled across the floor. The murders were premeditated and brutal," one reader wrote.

The reader continued, pushing back against the brothers' family's current focus on how their claims of abuse by their father should come into play when considering their punishment.

"Unfortunately, many children are abused. Most of them don't have the options Lyle and Eric had. They are where they belong," the reader wrote.

Just under 40% of respondents expressed certainty of the opposite opinion, that the brothers do deserve to be let out of prison now.

"They are not a threat to society. At that age their frontal lobe was not fully developed so they were not fully able to make morally correct decisions and were in a situation where the only thought was this would bring safety to us.

"It was horrible and death is never the answer, maybe being in jail gave them the opportunity to be raised by a moral ethical system instead of who they were being raised by, But they don't seem to be a threat to anyone at this point — so why keep them there?," another reader wrote.

And 9% said they do not deserve freedom at this time, but they potentially could in the future.

"I was not a fly on the wall to know what went on in that house. But as I think about it they were old enough to just walk out and murder was not the right solution. They could have gone to authorities, sued parents, or just left. So, I really can’t make that judgement," another wrote.

Patch also asked readers their opinions on the brothers' specific avenues for freedom.

They were split 60-40 on the question of whether a judge should resentence the brothers as part of Friday's hearing.

And readers showed a similar split on the question of whether Newsom should grant clemency to the brothers in a form of a reduction of their sentences.

• Read more about Friday's hearing and the latest on the Menendez brothers' case