Los Angeles County D.A. George Gascón is setting the record straight, saying his push to recommend resentencing for the Menendez brothers isn’t about public buzz or winning an election -- it’s about doing what he personally believes is right.
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00We wanted to find out, because we know Mark Garagos, the Menendez Brothers lawyer, is
00:06going to go to court on December 11th and not just ask for resentencing, but ask that
00:12the conviction be reduced from murder to manslaughter.
00:16If that were to happen, Eric and Lyle would instantly be free because they've served way
00:21more than the Macs.
00:23Given that you have now strongly supported the notion of clemency, sounds to me now you'd
00:30be on board with that.
00:31We, and we've said that to the defense, if they file that, we will not oppose.
00:40But we don't think it was a manslaughter, right?
00:42I believe that it was murder.
00:44There was a lot of premeditation.
00:47I understand there was, you know, there were mitigating conditions.
00:50I do believe that they were molested.
00:52I certainly believe that the victims were in a very dysfunctional environment.
00:58But nevertheless, I don't believe that manslaughter is what occurred.
01:04Having said that, as you indicated, I've also urged the governor to provide clemency because
01:10I do believe they should be released immediately.
01:13I believe that they spent, you know, almost 35 years in prison.
01:17I believe that they have shown above and beyond that they have not only rehabilitated, but
01:21that they can be reintegrated into our community safely.
01:26And for those reasons, we, you know, I believe that they, you know, that it would be okay
01:31for them to be released immediately.
01:34But for us to go all the way down to a manslaughter charge, I think is contrary to the evidence.
01:40But again, you know, it's up to the court, right?
01:41At the end of the day, the court has to decide.
01:45And we're not going to oppose it if they seek to have, you know, this classified as a manslaughter,
01:51we know actually on the first trial that hung, you know, about half of the jury actually
01:56wanted to reduce it to manslaughter.
01:57So it's not a completely unrealistic outcome for this.
02:03We just want to, you know, I want to make sure that we stay true to what I think is
02:07the evidence that is presented, as well as what I think, you know, is appropriate for
02:11them to be either resentenced or be released by the governor.
02:15I was alarmed when you mentioned the heightened interest because of the various shows, the
02:24docu-series and the Ryan Murphy show.
02:27And then Gavin Newsom mentioned that, I think he said his team had spoken with Ryan Murphy's
02:33people and kind of accentuated that point.
02:36To me, I'm alarmed by that because now, you know, we've seen district attorneys elsewhere
02:45running on platforms of, if I'm elected, I'll prosecute so-and-so.
02:51And I've always kind of felt as a lawyer that we shouldn't be looking at public interest,
02:58a heightened public interest, what the public wants.
03:02It should be more insular where prosecutors make decisions based on what they see before them.
03:10Does that land with you at all?
03:12Listen, I agree with you.
03:13I think that if you follow what I've said, number one, I've never seen any of the documentaries,
03:19OK, or the shows, you know, whatever people argue that some of the stuff is not documentaries
03:23or show.
03:24I think there's a little bit of both, but I've never seen any of them.
03:27And I purposely won't until the case gets resolved.
03:31I've also made it very clear that I was making a decision independent of any of this stuff.
03:37What I did say, and I will continue to say, is we already had a hearing on the habeas
03:41for November 26.
03:44We have been working in both the habeas and the resent, well, the habeas for over a year,
03:48resentencing for, you know, since early this year.
03:51When the docu-series, show, whatever you want to call it, came out, the most recent one
03:57from Netflix, we were getting flooded with media requests as to the status of our, you
04:04know, our process concerning the habeas and concerning resentencing to the point that
04:09my communications unit was getting overwhelmed.
04:12And I said, you know, we're going to put a stop to this.
04:14I will go publicly.
04:15I will say that I am evaluating.
04:17I will make a decision and that decision would be final as to our office.
04:23But I recognize that there are people in the office that will be opposed to any kind of
04:26relief. But I agree with you 100 percent.
04:28You know, when it comes to prosecutorial action, it should not be based on public
04:32opinion. And frankly, I think you would agree with me that I have taken a tremendous
04:37amount of beating for the last four years because I tried to do what I believe is the
04:40right thing, regardless of public opinion.