Los Angeles
Cnn
–
A hearing that could give the brothers Erik and Lyle, their first chance of freedom in more than three decades struck a hook in the midst of disagreements on the access of a Los Angeles courtyard to “complete risk assessments” carried out by a parole commission.
The long -awaited hearing for the Menendez brothers, imprisoned for life for the 1989 murders of their parents in Beverly Hills, saw the defense and prosecution extend if the assessment of state risks could be shared with the court because it determines if it can be eligible for less sentence and a way of parole.
Defense lawyer, Mark Geragos, argued that the assessment of the conditional liberation committee was kept away from the hearing, while prosecutor Habib Balian qualified the report an essential piece of the puzzle necessary to make a decision on the issue.
Futtant, the judge of the Superior Court of the County of Los Angeles, Michael Jesic, seeks to obtain clarifications of state officials.
“We have to eliminate this,” said the judge.
Jesic added: “I want to see these reports.”
The two -day hearing will determine whether the penalty of life of brothers and sisters without eligibility for parole can be revised to grant them the possibility of being released.
The judge’s decision would have monumental implications for the lawyer of lawyers, family members and online supporters who have launched in recent years a renewed campaign for the freedom of Erik and Lyle, partially fueled by a wave of attention provided by documentation and the drama of Fictive Netflix telling the case.
Since 2023, Erik and Lyle have been pursuing a legal effort in three parties to guarantee their release: renowned supply, a mercy request from the Governor of California Gavin Newsom and a call for a new trial based on new evidence.
Although a new trial focuses solely on the facts of the crime of the brothers and sisters, the reinforcement decision allows the judge to take into account other factors, including their rehabilitation efforts.
Dozens of parents from Menendez say that Erik and Lyle have demonstrated years of remorse and rehabilitation since they pulled and killed their parents, Kitty and José Menendez, in their mansion managed. They also argue that the severity of the sentence should be revisited due to an in -depth cultural understanding of sexual abuses on childhood since the murders, which the brothers have long kept have been carried out in self -defense after years of abuse in their father.
But while the brothers’ case was defended by the former District Prosecutor of the County of Los Angeles, his successor, Nathan Hochman, took a harder position against their release, threatening to overthrow their powerful momentum.
Hochman said he would oppose the brothers’ request for a new trial and had tried to Remove the request of the former DA in support of their resentment – a decision which was rejected by a judge last week.
A few hours before the hearing on Thursday, Hochman’s team filed a request for ahead of delaying the procedure, claiming that “complete risks” assessments “of the brothers who were led by the conditional liberation committee were now completed and that the court needs time to revise them.
“People believe that the court should have all the information available before making this important decision. Insofar as the court needs additional time to obtain these documents from the Governor’s office, people are asking for a continuation if necessary,” said the request filed on Wednesday.
The district prosecutor described the self -defense of the “fabricated” brothers, rather arguing that brutal crimes were premeditated and questioned the veracity of their allegations of sexual abuse. Hochman called Erik and Lyle to admit that they have “lied to everyone for 30 years”.
Anamaria Baralt, a cousin of the brothers who led the family’s liberation efforts, said that she could not imagine Erik or Lyle inverting their several years in the Hochman command.
“There is no part of me who thinks that Lyle and Erik will capitulate his requests,” Baralt told CNN last month. “It would be a slap in the face of each survivor they defended in their lives.”
The brothers’ lawyers should call a program by former prosecutors, former prisoners and the staff of the correctional services and possibly family members to testify in the name of the rehabilitation efforts of Erik and Lyle in prison.
If the judge grants Erik and Lyle the revised sentence, a parole commission will examine their business and could recommend them for parole. The decision will go to the Newsom office, where he will have 120 days to grant, reverse or modify the decision.
Although the family is desperate for the release of Erik and Lyle, Baralt also worries men, now of average age, could be frozen in the public’s eyes as young men dressed in sweater who took the position of the witness in the 90s, portrayed by prosecutors and the media as arrogant and self-helped heirs of $ 14 million.
If they are released, the brothers would reintegrate society as men in the fifties who spent the majority of their adult life navigating in prison.
“They have a lot of supporters in the world, but not everyone is a supporter,” said Baralt. “They did not live outside the prison in the era of social media which can be ruthless and brutal, and which concern me a lot. … I hope they will find their way.”
Even if the renowned offer is refused, the struggle of Erik and Lyle for the Liberation will be far from over. The brothers are looking for two other paths to be released: a new test and a leniency.
Governor Newsom has the power to commute the sorrows of the brothers, who would immediately release them from the prison. The governor has so far refrained from making a decision, but has asked the Council of State for parole hearings to investigate whether the pair would present an “unreasonable risk” for the public if it were released.
The conditional liberation committee should have an audience on June 13 with the brothers and will then share its recommendation with Newsom.
The brothers’ lawyers also made a request for a new trial, known as the Habeas petition. Their lawyers claim that new evidence of sexual abuse by the father of the brothers and sisters have occurred since their trials in the 1990s, including a letter from 1988 from Erik Menendez to a relative referring to the alleged abuses.
During their trials, the brothers admitted the responsibility of the murders of their parents, but argued that they should not be found guilty of premeditated murder. In their first trial, which presented separate juries for each brother, Erik and Lyle declared that they had endured a whole life of physical and sexual abuse by their father and thought that their mother was aware and had chosen to do nothing. Their lawyers argued that the couple had killed their parents because they feared for their lives.
The first trial ended with a jury in the impasse for each man, which led to a second trial in which the judge prohibited most of the evidence of sexual abuse. The two brothers were found guilty of murder and sentenced to perpetuity without parole. If the evidence of abuse had been authorized to be presented during the second trial, their lawyers argued that the brothers would have been found guilty of manslaughter guilty instead of first degree murder.
The decision finally lies in a judge, but Hochman urged the court to reject his request, saying that abuses do not constitute a self -defense claim.
“Sexual abuses are obnoxious and we will continue sexual abuse in any form,” he said. “But sexual abuses in this situation, although it could have been a motivation for Erik and Lyle to do what they have done, are not a self -defense.”
The Menendez family expressed their disgust for Hochman’s position, calling it “overwhelmed” and “harmful”.
Several parents of Erik and Lyle stayed alongside them even through the frantic trials of the 1990s, the following in the county prison with maximum security prisons and, finally, to an innovative correctional establishment in San Diego where they are hosted today.
Separated for decades, Erik and Lyle were gathered in 2018 at the Correctional Center of RJ Donovan in San Diego, where prisoners are encouraged to create and direct programs for other prisoners. There, the brothers founded several initiatives, including support groups for disabled and elderly detainees, meditation courses and workshops on alternatives to violence.
Lyle also co -founded the Green Space Project, a massive effort to embellish the court of prison which collected more than $ 250,000 to install trees, grass and open -air gathering spaces. The project aims to reduce recurrence, in part by “normalizing” the penitentiary environment and by making it more closely to the outside world in which the prisoners will pass once they are released.
Baralt stressed that most of these programs were founded years before the release was an option for the brothers.
“Liberation has never been on the table, and they did it anyway, which is really beautiful for me,” said Baralt. “It was a desire to make their lives that is worth something, and they succeeded. As far as I’m concerned, they live in full lives, really full lives, full of goal and meaning. ”
If they are released, the Erik and Lyle said they would continue to advocate for rehabilitation in prison and the survivors of childhood abuses, said Baralt.
Matt Friedman from CNN and Ray Sanchez contributed to this report.
