The Los Angeles County district lawyer met with the Menendez brothers’ family members on Friday, however mentioned he’s nonetheless reviewing the info within the case and hasn’t but determined if he is in assist of the brothers’ bid for freedom.
LA County District Lawyer Nathan Hochman mentioned that when he got here into workplace on Dec. 3, he promised to assessment all of the info in Erik and Lyle Menendez’s case. He mentioned that effort has concerned reviewing 1000’s of pages of confidential jail data, trial transcripts, chatting with all of the prosecutors and protection attorneys concerned and reviewing courtroom filings.
Hochman mentioned that effort continues, noting that he is not completed reviewing all of the jail recordsdata from the brothers’ a long time behind bars.
In these reserving images taken Oct. 10, 2024, Erik and Lyle Menendez are proven.
CRDC
Over 20 Menendez family members met with Hochman on Friday of their continued push for the brothers’ launch from jail.
Hochman described the dialog as “very productive” and “in some methods, an off-the-cuff, off-the-record dialogue.”
“They gave me all their ideas about what ought to occur, their experiences they needed to share, the last word course they needed this case to go,” he mentioned.
Hochman didn’t reveal the main points of the dialog.
In a short handle to reporters, Anamaria Baralt, cousin of the Menendez brothers, spoke out after the household’s assembly with Hochman Friday afternoon.
“We did have a gathering with the district lawyer and we’re grateful for his time,” she mentioned in a press release. “I wish to reiterate our place as a household and because the victims’ households that this 35-year course of has been extremely traumatizing for us as I am certain that you could all think about.”
She mentioned she the household hoped to see an instantaneous launch of the brothers, saying that going earlier than a parole board “will solely serve to re-traumatize us.”
The earlier district lawyer, George Gascón, introduced in October that he was recommending the brothers’ sentence of life with out the potential of parole be eliminated, and they need to as a substitute be sentenced for homicide, which might be a sentence of fifty years to life. As a result of each brothers have been underneath 26 on the time of the crimes, they’d be eligible for parole instantly with the brand new sentence.
The DA’s workplace mentioned its resentencing suggestions take note of many elements, together with rehabilitation in jail, and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón praised the work Lyle and Erik Menendez did behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and assist different inmates.
Weeks after Gascón’s announcement, he misplaced his race for reelection to Hochman.
Erik and Lyle Menendez subsequent seem in courtroom for a listening to within the resentencing case on Jan. 30 and Jan. 31.
This comes on the heels of an lawyer for the brothers petitioning to maneuver the case from the DA’s workplace to the California Lawyer Normal’s Workplace, claiming a battle of curiosity between Hochman and Kathleen Cady, whom Hoch simply appointed director of the division’s Bureau of Sufferer Companies.
Cady just lately resigned as lawyer for Milton Anderson, the one Menendez relative who has been pushing to maintain the brothers in jail.
Hochman mentioned Friday that Cady is “walled off from the Menendez case.”
Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez sit with protection lawyer Leslie Abramson, proper, in Beverly Hills Municipal Court docket throughout a listening to, Nov. 26, 1990.
Nick Ut/AP
Lyle and Erik Menendez have been convicted in 1996 of the 1989 murders of their mother and father, Jose and Kitty Menendez, who they gunned down within the household’s Beverly Hills residence.
The protection claimed the brothers acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father, however prosecutors alleged they killed for cash.
Lyle and Erik Menendez, who have been 21 and 18 on the time of the crime, respectively, have been sentenced to 2 consecutive life jail phrases with out the potential of parole.
Apart from the resentencing, the brothers have been pursuing two different paths to freedom.
In 2023, the brothers filed a habeas corpus petition for a assessment of latest proof not offered at trial.
In addition they submitted a request for clemency to California Gov. Gavin Newsom. In November, Newsom mentioned he’d defer to Hochman’s “assessment and evaluation of the Menendez case prior to creating any clemency selections.”
ABC Information’ Amanda M. Morris contributed to this report.
