By Jaimie Ding, Associated Press
Los Angeles (AP) – A judge should decide on Friday to carry out hearings against Erik and Lyle Menendez, who were recognized as guilty of having murdered their parents, in the light of the new Los Angeles prosecutor, opposing their release after 30 years of delay.
The brothers were sentenced to life prison without possibility of parole at 18 and 21 after being guilty of having murdered their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their house in Beverly Hills in 1989. While the defense argued that they acted by self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, said the brothers had killed their parents of people.
The former Progressive District Prosecutor of the County of Los Angeles, George Gascón, asked for respect for the brothers before losing the re -election of the hard candidate on crime Nathan Hochman in November. Gascón had asked a judge to change the sentence of the brothers at 50 for life, which would immediately make them eligible for the liberation under Californian law because they committed crime when they were under 26 years of age.
But last month, Hochman submitted a request to withdraw this request, saying that he had not supported the resentment of the brothers because they had not admitted to lies that they said that the case was going on why they killed their parents and did not recognize, did not recognize and did not fully accept their crime.
Friday, the court will decide to allow prosecutors to withdraw their renowned request. If this request is granted, the judge will also decide to proceed independently with the hearings of the brothers, which are temporarily provided for on April 17 and 18.
The opposition of the district prosecutor sets a major obstacle for the brothers, whose path of resentment was almost certain of Gascón’s support.
The family’s relationship with Hochman has also embittered. Most of the extended family of the brothers support their resentment. Milton Andersen, Kitty Menendez’s brother and the only parent who opposed their release, died last month.
Tamara Goodall, a cousin of the brothers, submitted a complaint to the State asking Hochman to be withdrawn from the case, citing his bias against the brothers and alleging that he had violated a law intended to protect the rights of the victims.
Hochman had a “hostile, disdainful and condescending tone” in meetings with the family and created an “intimidating and intimidating atmosphere,” wrote Goodall.
In their response to the request of the district prosecutor aimed at withdrawing the renowned request, the lawyers of the Menendez brothers wondered if Hochman had legitimate reasons to do so or was influenced by “a change of political winds”.
The lawyers stressed that Hochman had demoted Nancy Theberge and Brock Lunsford, the two assistant prosecutors who filed the initial renown request. Theberge and Lunsford have since brought prosecution against Hochman alleging harassment, discrimination and reprisals for their work on the case of the Menendez brothers.
“The law requires equity, not personal vendettas,” said Anamaria Baralt, brothers’ cousin, in a press release. “Erik and Lyle not only took responsibility, they have become the kind of men that this system is supposed to help create. If rehabilitation does not matter here, when is it? “
Hochman’s office denied any political influence on their decision -making in their response and doubled on the post that Erik and Lyle Menendez “made their self -defense claim” in the murders of their parents and had not achieved complete rehabilitation.
Without resentment, the brothers would still have two other ways towards freedom. They submitted a pleading of leniency to the governor of California Gavin Newsom, who ordered the conditional liberation council of the State to investigate if the brothers would present a risk to the public if they are released. The conditional liberation committee should hold its last hearings on June 13.
The brothers also submitted a petition for Habeas Corpus in May 2023 asking the court to grant them a new trial in the light of the new evidence presented. Hochman’s office also filed a request for opposition to the petition.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
