George Gascón Says He's Not Trying to Win Votes, Menendez Bros Should Go Free

TMZ

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.

Transcript

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.

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