We may soon learn the fate of the Menendez Brothers as L.A. County DA George Gascón says his office could have a decision regarding reevaluating their murder convictions sometime this week.
During an interview with CNN, Gascón said that during the original trial, jurors were denied the ability to look at evidence of possible sexual abuse the brothers alleged they endured at the hands of their father.
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Gascón says their sentencing could have been different had this information been permitted.
"Had that occurred, they would have been out of prison probably at least a couple of decades ago," said the DA.
He also pointed to the fact that thanks to the trial being televised, his office came across footage of a prosecutor saying, 'Men cannot be raped,' which they found concerning.
He believes this sentiment may have permeated the proceedings as an implicit bias we know today to be false.
"There's a history of men being raped in prisons and churches and other places," said Gascón. "So I think that also played a role... that perhaps may have had an impact on how the case was presented to the jury."
The DA said his office is split on what should happen to the brothers, but the final decision will be his.
Gascón is in the middle of his re-election campaign, and Election Day.
During a contentious debate between Gascón and his challenger Nathan Hochman KNX News asked the incumbent if the decision to announce his intentions to asses the brother's sentencing had anything to do with the election, Gascón said, "We had a hearing scheduled for November 29th of this year. This case has been moving along the track with many other cases. When this Netflix documentary started to show recently, we started to get many, many media requests for information. Initially, we tried to answer them individually. I came to the conclusion that it was better to handle it all at once, and that's what we did."
You can watch the debate in its entirety HERE.
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