LOS ANGELES — The district legal professional of Los Angeles says he does no longer give a boost to the resentencing of Lyle and Erik Menendez, brothers who’ve spent greater than 30 years in jail for killing their folks at their Beverly Hills house in 1989.
Los Angeles County District Legal professional Nathan Hochman stated Monday that the brothers have again and again lied about why they killed their folks and “fell brief” of taking complete duty for his or her crimes.
The brothers have argued that they dedicated the crimes in self-defense after years of abuse through their father.
Right here are a few things to understand concerning the case:
The shotgun killings of Jose and Kitty Menendez happened on Aug. 20, 1989, of their Beverly Hills mansion. Their son Lyle Menendez used to be the person who referred to as 911, with the brothers to start with claiming the killing used to be Mafia-related or attached to their father’s trade dealings.
The brothers went on spending sprees, purchasing Rolex watches, vehicles and homes. Two months later, Erik Menendez advised his psychologist, Jerome Oziel, that he and his brother killed their folks. They had been ultimately arrested and charged of their folks’ deaths.
The homicide case captured the general public’s consideration. Coming at the heels of the O.J. Simpson trial, the country used to be hungry for true crime TV. The brothers’ first trial used to be some of the first to be nearly solely televised on Court docket TV. It spawned documentaries, tv specials and dramatizations. The Netflix drama “ Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Tale ″ and the documentary “The Menendez Brothers,” launched within the fall of 2024, had been credited for bringing new consideration to the case.
Lyle and Erik Menendez’s first trial happened in 1993 with separate juries. Prosecutors argued they killed their folks for monetary achieve. The brothers’ lawyers by no means disputed the pair killed their folks, however argued that they acted out of self-defense after years of emotional and sexual abuse through their father.
Each trials ended in a hung jury on all 3 counts for the killing of Jose and Kitty Menendez, and the conspiracy to dedicate homicide. The juries had been break up over homicide and manslaughter convictions.
At the second one trial in 1995, the pass judgement on excluded an excessive amount of proof introduced within the first trial, together with testimony from a number of members of the family who witnessed or heard concerning the abuse. Prosecutors doubled down on their declare that no abuse took place. A unmarried jury convicted each brothers of 3 counts, together with first-degree homicide, plus mendacity in-wait and particular circumstance allegations. They had been sentenced to existence with out parole in 1996.
Within the years that adopted, the brothers again and again appealed their convictions. In 1998, they had been denied through an appellate court docket and the California Preferrred Court docket. Their petitions for habeas corpus, a request for a court docket to inspect whether or not anyone is being lawfully detained, had been denied through the state Preferrred Court docket.
After hard their choices in state court docket, they filed petitions in federal court docket, which have been denied. They then appealed in 2005 to the 9th Circuit Court docket of Appeals, which denied them once more.
Their legal professional stated after that enchantment failed, they resigned themselves to spending the remainder of their lives in jail.
In 2015, the brothers heard a few letter written through Erik Menendez to his uncle Andy Cano that used to be discussed in a Barbara Walters tv particular. After they requested their lawyers about it, the lawyers had been ignorant of the letter and learned it had no longer been offered at both trial, making it successfully new proof.
This letter, lawyers say, corroborates the allegations that Erik used to be sexually abused through his father.
Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin pop team Menudo, not too long ago got here ahead announcing he used to be drugged and raped through Jose Menendez, the men’ father, when he used to be a teenager within the Nineteen Eighties. Menudo used to be signed beneath RCA Information, which Jose Menendez headed on the time.
Rossello spoke about his abuse within the Peacock docuseries “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.” He supplied a signed declaration to the brothers’ legal professionals, the overall piece of proof wanted for them to document a brand new petition for habeas corpus in Would possibly 2023 and ask for a reexamination of the case.
The brothers have submitted a petition for habeas corpus asking the court docket to grant them a brand new trial in mild of the brand new proof introduced.
The court docket may be taking into account a movement for resentencing submitted through Hochman’s predecessor, George Gascón, remaining October. Gascón stated his workplace would counsel the brothers obtain a brand new sentence of fifty years to existence, making them eligible for parole straight away as a result of they had been beneath 26 years outdated on the time of the crimes. If the state parole board granted their liberate, California Gov. Gavin Newsom then has 150 days to study the parole board’s determination.
In the end, the brothers have requested Newsom to grant them clemency. Newsom has ordered the state parole board to guage whether or not the brothers would pose a possibility to the general public if launched.
Hochman says he opposes resentencing the Menendez brothers on account of their “loss of complete perception and loss of whole duty for his or her murders.”
On Monday, his workplace introduced it used to be retreating the resentencing movement submitted through Gascón’s workplace. Hochman additionally stated in February he does no longer give a boost to the brothers’ habeas corpus petition for a brand new trial.
Hochman stated the brothers didn’t “come blank” about lies they advised because the case opened up, together with their authentic declare that they didn’t kill their folks. He stated their repeated argument that they shot their folks in self-defense does no longer fit the information of the case that display their premeditated steps to plot the killings and make it seem like a gang hit.
He additionally stated the brothers didn’t admit they attempted to get pals to dedicate perjury for them and lied about their mom looking to poison their complete circle of relatives.
Hochman’s opposition to resentencing significantly reduces the Menendez brothers’ probabilities at freedom, consistent with Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and professor of legal legislation at Loyola Regulation College in Los Angeles.
“Frankly it’s the main points which can be set forth on this long reaction,” Levenson stated, regarding the 88-page record launched through his workplace. “In the past, it’s just about been the protection’s view of the information for the court docket’s intake and the general public as neatly.”
LA’s earlier district legal professional, Gascón, supported resentencing, pointing to the brothers’ rehabilitation in jail and announcing the trial would had been handled another way with as of late’s working out of ways sexual and bodily abuse impacts kids.
When prosecutors give a boost to resentencing, there may be “slightly of a presumption” that the court docket will do it, Levenson. With out that give a boost to, there may also be jurisdictional problems over whether or not the court docket can continue.
The brothers’ resentencing listening to remains to be set for March 20 and 21, presided over through LA County Awesome Court docket Pass judgement on Michael Jesic.
“Their much more likely street could be in the course of the governor’s workplace and clemency,” Levenson stated. “That frankly is as a result of Pass judgement on Jesic is more likely to pay very shut consideration to the entire information set forth on this opposition.”
