The Los Angeles County judge is expected to begin hearing evidence in Van Nuisse’s courtroom, which will give the Eric brothers and Lyle Menendez their first chance of freedom in more than 35 years.
Defense attorney Mark Jelagos asks LA County Superior Court Judge Michael Jessick to resent his brother on manslaughter in the execution-style murder of his parents Jose and Kitty Menendez, citing years of sexual abuse allegedly suffering in the hands of his father.
The brother was convicted of murder under special circumstances and was sentenced to life in prison after a trial in 1995 without the possibility of parole.
Last year, the county and county at that time. Atty. George Gascon asked the judge to qualify for parole under California law and to reduce their sentences as the murder occurred when he was under the age of 26. Gascon should create prison rehabilitation programs, create low-risk ratings by prison staff, and be free to potential new evidence of the father’s abused and abusive behaviour.
Current dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman has been opposed to their release and has focused his arguments on what he sees as refusing to take ownership of a horrifying crime.
Late Wednesday, the District Attorney’s Office filed an allegation seeking delay in the hearing, allowing the state’s parole board to obtain and review the latest risk assessments of the brothers. This assessment was ordered this year by Governor Gavin Newsom. Gavin Mewsom is considering another petition from his brother who is seeking generosity for the murder.
On August 20, 1989, Eric and Lyle Menendez entered the family home, armed with shotguns they bought in cash, while their parents were watching the film, and fired fire. Jose Menendez was shot five times in the patella and head. Kitty Menendez was covered in blood when one of her brothers hit her with the final fatal shotgun explosion.
Eric, 18, confessed to the murder in a conversation with a therapist. The brothers alleged that Jose sexually abused them and was a threat to their lives, but prosecutors claimed that they could kill their parents and get early access to millions of dollars inheritance.
Push to release the brothers won a stream last year after the release of a popular Netflix documentary about the case. In the new trial motion, the defense attorney pointed to a letter sent by Eric to one of his cousins detailing his father’s actions that took place eight months before the murder. The allegations also included a declaration from a member of the boys band Menudo, who claimed that Jose had raped him in 1984 when he was a teenager.
Almost 20 of the brothers’ loved ones formed justice for the Eric and Lyle Union, a family-led group defending their freedom. The only family of Menendez who opposed the release of his brother passed away this year. The rest of the family is creating an increasingly tense conflict with Hochman over the case, accusing the district attorney of mistreating them at a private meeting.
Jelagos is expected to call some of those relatives witnesses during the hearing. Geragos told the public court last week that he would not care if he was a corrections supervisor who highly valued one of his brothers who thought he was a neighbor or not, or if he was a neighbor or not.
Hochman, who accused Gascon of seeking res in a desperate bid to boost his reelection campaign, announced his opposition to the brother’s release last month.
He argued that the analysis of Gascon’s case was paper-thin, questioning the validity of their claims of self-defense, and repeatedly claiming that the brothers lied about the shooting situation. Hochman also says that the brothers have not shown proper “insights” into their crimes.
At last week’s hearing to cancel Gascon’s petition, Jessick agreed to a defence argument that “insights” were not related to the petition for responsibilities. The criteria only apply at parole hearings, the judge said.
The hearing is expected to last two days, and it is unclear whether Jesic will soon take over on Friday. If the brothers are resenting, they can go smoothly for this year’s parole hearing.
If JESIC rejects the petition, the brothers still have two routes to release. New trial motion cites additional evidence of sexual abuse and lenient petition before Newsom.
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