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Prosecutors were expected to respond by Tuesday to Eric and Lyle Menendez’s petition regarding their efforts to challenge their 1996 murder convictions.
Tuesday is the court-set deadline for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to file an explanation on the brothers’ habeas corpus petition.
The petition argues that in light of new evidence, their conviction for shooting their parents and their life sentences without the possibility of parole are unconstitutional.
One piece of evidence is a letter Eric Menendez allegedly wrote to his cousin months before his parents were killed with a shotgun, in which Eric spoke of childhood sexual abuse by his father, Jose Menendez. .
“I wake up every night wondering if (Jose) might come,” Eric wrote in a letter to his cousin Andy Cano. “(Jose) is crazy! He warned me a hundred times about telling anyone, especially Lyle.”
It’s unclear how the district attorney’s office will respond, but the current prosecutor, George Gascón, will resign by early December after losing his bid for re-election to Nathan Hockman.
In addition to efforts to overturn the murder conviction, the brothers’ defense attorneys are seeking recidivism, citing the fact that the brothers were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of their biological father and their good behavior in prison.
The current prosecutor, Georges Gascón, had recommended that the brothers’ sentences be commuted and that they be eligible for immediate parole. But because Gascón is scheduled to retire from the prosecutor’s office within a week of losing his case to Nathan Hochman, the judge on Monday moved the retrial to Jan. 30 and Jan. 31.
Mr Hochman said the delay would give him enough time to consider the case.
“With Judge (Michael) Jessick’s decision to continue hearing the motion for reconsideration until January 30-31, I reviewed extensive prison records, records from two lengthy trials, and extensive evidence, and the prosecutor’s office “We will have sufficient time to consult with the law,” Hochman said. “We look forward to a thorough review of all the facts and law to defend in court.”
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