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Brothers Eric and Lyle Menendez, who are serving life sentences without parole for killing their parents with a shotgun in their Beverly Hills mansion, will appear in court for the first time on Monday to seek release after serving more than 34 years.
The brothers are scheduled to participate in Van Nuys’ hearing via video from the San Diego-area jail where they are being held.
Defense attorneys Mark Geragos and Clifford Gardner filed a petition last year seeking to vacate the brothers’ convictions, saying newly discovered evidence supports the brothers’ claims of sexual abuse against their father Jose. That’s what started the situation. Judge Michael V. Jessick will consider their motion and hear the outgoing Los Angeles Township’s response. Atty. Georges Gascon.
The habeas petition included a letter Eric Menendez sent to his cousin in December 1988, eight months before the murder, that appeared to support the abuse claims. It also included a statement from Roy Rosselló, a member of the boy band Menudo, who claimed he was raped by Jose Menendez in 1984 when he was 13 or 14 years old.
Geragos said the brothers’ convictions should be overturned in light of the new evidence, which would allow them to be released immediately on the murder charges at 722 North Elm Drive, or be prosecuted on lesser charges. He said that this could result in Alternatively, the motion asks the judge to dismiss the case for an evidentiary hearing.
Ultimately, Geragos said, “it will be in the hands of respected judges.” Geragos said it was a judicial decision, although there were “so many conflicts” with some prosecutors and relatives supporting the brothers and others opposing them.
Separately, Gascón is asking Superior Court Judge William Ryan to give the brothers 50 years to life in prison because they committed the crime before they were 26 years old. , may be eligible for parole as a young offender. However, a public hearing will not be held until Gascón leaves office.
The two brothers were convicted of special circumstances murder, a charge punishable only by life in prison without parole or the death penalty in California. The 1989 murder and subsequent televised trial spawned documentaries, movies and TV series, and made the two brothers some of the most publicized convicts.
Tourists, including Kim Kardashian, still visit the prison outside the Mediterranean mansion on Elm Drive where her parents were murdered.
The brothers have been unsuccessfully appealing for years, but this could pave the way to freedom.
In 1989, Eric and Lyle Menendez bought a shotgun with cash, entered their home and shot and killed their parents as they watched a movie in the living room. Jose Menendez was hit five times, including in the back of the head, and Kitty Menendez crawled on the floor injured before her brothers reloaded and fired the final, fatal blast, prosecutors said.
During the trial, prosecutors repeatedly showed horrific images of Kitty Menendez’s face smashed into pieces and her husband sitting on a bloody couch after being shot at close range.
Prosecutors will argue that the murder was motivated by greed and the brothers’ desire to get their hands on their parents’ multimillion-dollar fortune.
But during the trial, Eric and Lyle Menendez detailed years of violent sexual abuse by their father.
Gascon said he also supports Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pardon for his brother.
But Newsom said he would postpone any decision on pardons until the next Los Angeles Township term. Atty. Nathan Hockman gives his opinion after reviewing thousands of pages of evidence in the case. Mr. Hochman, who decisively defeated Mr. Gascon’s re-election bid and takes office next month, has called for a tougher crime stance and questioned whether Mr. Gascón took on the Menendez case to gain publicity.
Another hearing on Gascón’s request for re-sentencing is scheduled for December. Hochman said he will review the evidence before making a decision on the case.
But Mr. Geragos maintains precedent involving the San Francisco district attorney from several years ago, meaning the next district attorney cannot reverse what his predecessor did in his request for a new trial. “Once you push the door open, you can’t close it,” Geragos said.
More than 20 of the brothers’ relatives petitioned for their release. More than a dozen family members were present when Gascon announced his decision to seek a reduced sentence last month.
“I know this wasn’t an easy decision, but it was the right one,” said Kitty Menendez’s sister, Joanne Vandermolen. “This is about truth, justice and healing.”
While there is no question that the brothers murdered their parents, Gascón said the question is whether the jury heard evidence that the father sexually abused them and whether that evidence influenced the outcome of the trial. He said it was up to him.
When the brothers were first tried by separate juries, it included evidence of sexual abuse, including testimony from family friends and relatives, but the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. It ended without being able to do it.
But when they were tried again in front of a single jury, jurors heard less testimony supporting the sexual abuse allegations. The two were convicted of first-degree murder in March 1996.
Gascón said the brothers’ efforts to lead rehabilitation programs while in prison were also a factor in the decision to make them eligible for parole.
The two have spent years working in prison programs that help inmates cope with trauma and support people with physical disabilities. Both have university degrees.
“I would never say that what we’re doing here is to excuse their actions. … If you’re being abused, the right thing to do is to report it to the police,” Gascón said. Ta. “They never thought they would ever be released, but they took part in another journey: a journey of redemption and a journey of rehabilitation.”
Even if a judge ultimately agrees to censure the pair, their fate remains in the hands of the parole board, which will decide whether to release them. . Mr. Newsom could veto the parole board’s decision.
Kitty Menendez’s 90-year-old brother, Milton Andersen, criticized the decision to seek a new sentence for the killer. He said Gascon refused to meet him to discuss his decision before announcing it to the media.
“Mr. Andersen has not been treated with the dignity and respect he deserves, and has been left in the dark and forced to learn important updates about his sister’s case through the media,” Andersen’s attorney said. Kathy Cady said.
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