Erik and Lyle Menendez say they finally have something to look forward to as they inch closer to a possible release from prison, and they're revealing how they've evolved during their 35 years behind bars.
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00:00to the Menendez brothers who have a big week ahead
00:03because their re-sentencing hearing
00:06will happen on a schedule for Friday.
00:08Now, the bigger date I think for them
00:12is what the governor has already laid in motion,
00:14which is they go before the parole board in June.
00:18So I guess re-sentencing, the best they could hope for
00:22is that the judge says that he's gonna change his sentence.
00:28No, it's not.
00:30On Friday.
00:30No, that is what is on the table right now,
00:34which is if the judge changes the sentence
00:36and eliminates life without parole,
00:39then it goes to the parole board,
00:41but it's already at the parole board,
00:43so it seems irrelevant, right?
00:44Because the parole board's already hearing it
00:47based on what the governor asked them to do.
00:48So regardless of what happens on Friday,
00:51here's why I said no.
00:54There's something else that their lawyer,
00:56Mark Garagos, is gonna ask for.
00:57He is not just gonna ask for re-sentencing.
01:00He is going to ask that the judge change the conviction
01:06from murder to manslaughter,
01:10because it's based on this whole imperfect self-defense
01:13that was available in the first trial but not the second,
01:17and he's gonna say, change it to manslaughter.
01:20If that happens, they're instantly freed
01:22because they've served more than three times the max.
01:25So that's why this hearing really matters,
01:29not really because of the re-sentencing,
01:32which everybody's making a big deal about
01:33because it's already at the parole board,
01:35but if Garagos gets his way, they could be out on Friday.
01:40I don't know that that's gonna happen,
01:41but that's what he's gunning for.
01:42Mark Garagos is the person to talk to,
01:45and you and Mark Garagos spoke with Eric and Lyle Menendez.
01:50They were in prison.
01:50You had a prison interview with them,
01:53which is the subject of our documentary
01:55that is premiering tonight on Fox,
01:58the Menendez brothers, the prison interview.
02:00It is really remarkable.
02:02Now, if they get to the parole board, the hearing,
02:06you're gonna hear them in this documentary
02:08talking about the things that the parole board cares about,
02:10that they're looking very closely at.
02:12What have they done as far as rehabilitation?
02:16Rehabilitation and safety to the community,
02:19those are the two factors that the parole board looks at,
02:23and I think when you hear them on this special tonight,
02:26I think you get to decide whether or not,
02:28one, have they been rehabilitated,
02:30and you can be the judge.
02:31Do you feel like they are a danger to society?
02:36Listen to what they said to Harvey and to Mark
02:39about their life in prison and how it's changed
02:43with all of this attention
02:47and the possibility of getting out of prison.
02:49Hope for the future is really kind of a new thing for us.
02:53I think Eric would probably agree with that.
02:55It's not something that we spend a lot of time on.
02:59I'm striving to be a better person every day,
03:01and I want to be a person that my family can be proud of.
03:03The 360-degree evaluation of where they are,
03:07where they've been, and where they're going to be
03:09is incredible.
03:11Their entire life, they've been spoiled.
03:12They've been coddled, and they've always got what they want,
03:14and this is just something they want.
03:15They wanna get out of prison?
03:18Who have evolved into?
03:23Who I've seen Lyle evolve into?
03:29I'm beginning to like myself, be proud of myself,
03:32and find it okay to like myself.
03:35You never know how long you'll be blessed
03:36to be on the earth, so we don't just sit around
03:38waiting for something.
03:40They have done a lot of good things in prison,
03:43but I cannot fathom the fact that they should get out.
03:47They should not be released from prison,
03:49and I know, Harvey, we go back and forth on this so much,
03:53but I can't, I do not wanna be living in California
03:55and knowing that they're out.
03:56I just don't understand it.
03:57Courtney, I mean, look, polls have been done.
03:59This is a very polarizing issue.
04:02Split down the middle.
04:05You don't really feel like there's a danger
04:07of them being out, right?
04:08I mean, if your position is,
04:10I don't think they should get out
04:11because of how heinous the crime was, that's one thing,
04:16but there's certainly, I hear nothing in them
04:18that makes me go like, all right, if these guys get out,
04:21they're a danger to society.
04:22That's why I don't see it.
04:23They're great liars.
04:24We saw them on the stand lie over and over again.
04:26It was 40 years ago, Courtney.
04:27I don't care.
04:28They can still do it.
04:29Well, no, no, no, no, but that makes a difference.
04:30No, actually.
04:31How?
04:32How does it?
04:33Well, no, no, no, but hold on.
04:34On the stand, they actually copped to the lies.
04:36They had lied before, and when they were cross-examined,
04:40they copped to it.
04:41Their defense was they were sexually abused by their dad,
04:44but they copped to all those lies in those trials.
04:48There's a misconception about that.
04:50I think the bigger thing right now is,
04:52and the shocking thing to me is Governor Newsom,
04:56that he has taken the reins of this case,
04:59and he's gonna run for president in 2028.
05:02This is such a divisive issue,
05:04yet knowing that, he's asked the parole board
05:08to review the case.
05:09If the parole board comes back with a clean bill of health
05:13saying they're rehabilitated and they're not a danger,
05:16he's gonna release them because why would he start it?
05:18Why would he start the wheels in motion
05:20if he's not gonna do it?
05:21And I agree with you, and you didn't understand
05:24how they're gonna keep the anonymity
05:27of the victims in the last story.
05:28I don't understand how in the world Governor Newsom
05:32is taking the reins, as you said, on this,
05:35and seeming like he would let them out.
05:38I think-
05:39If he's gonna run for president.
05:40All I can say is, I think this-
05:41It doesn't add up.
05:42It doesn't add up politically,
05:44but I think there's something that-
05:44Well, that's all there is when you run for president.
05:46I don't know.
05:47I think there's something that moved him.
05:50I totally agree, and I could even see that,
05:53but it doesn't add up with him then running for president.
05:55It doesn't add up for that.
05:56Absolutely not.
05:58Shanice, Houston, Texas.
06:00I think the main thing to just consider
06:02with this whole situation is there are the brother's safety
06:07if they are released, and also how they're gonna be able
06:10to take the opposition and the backlash
06:11that they will receive, and very harshly, might I add,
06:14because of the heinous crime that was committed.
06:17You're absolutely right.
06:18That's the reality.
06:19That is gonna happen, but they're committed,
06:20especially Eric.
06:22I did this interview.
06:23He was so committed to working on childhood trauma issues.
06:27So we will see.