LOS ANGELES (AP) — The brand new Los Angeles County District Legal professional met with the Menendez brothers’ household as he continues to evaluate their bid for freedom 35 years after they had been convicted of killing their mother and father.
Nathan Hochman, who took workplace in December, mentioned Friday that he had a “productive session” with the members of the family, who shared their ideas with him on whether or not the brothers needs to be launched. The assembly lasted about three hours.
Brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez had been discovered responsible of murdering Jose and Kitty Menendez in 1989 and sentenced to life in jail with out parole. Now of their 50s, they started their bid for freedom in recent times after new proof of their father’s sexual abuse emerged of their case. Their attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition — a request for a court docket to look at whether or not somebody is being lawfully detained — in Could 2023, asking a choose to contemplate the proof.
The brothers have the help of most of their prolonged household, who’ve mentioned they need to be free after a long time behind bars. A number of members of the family have mentioned that in at present’s world — which is extra conscious of the influence of sexual abuse — the brothers wouldn’t have been convicted of first-degree homicide and sentenced to life.
In October 2024, then-District Legal professional George Gascon beneficial the brothers be resentenced to 50 years to life, which might make them instantly eligible for parole. Hochman, who was operating in opposition to Gascon, referred to as it a “determined political transfer.”
“By releasing it now, Gascon has solid a cloud over the equity and impartiality of his resolution,” he mentioned on the time.
A choose delayed the brothers’ resentencing listening to, initially set for early December, to the top of January. Superior Courtroom Choose Michael Jesic mentioned he wanted time to evaluate intensive proof and provides Hochman time to weigh in on the case.
Hochman mentioned Friday he was nonetheless reviewing 1000’s of pages of jail information to “analyze the rehabilitation side of resentencing.” Proof of rehabilitation might embrace not partaking in criminality whereas in jail, beginning organizations that helped different prisoners, and utilizing that point to enhance oneself, he mentioned.
On the brothers’ authentic trials, their protection attorneys argued that that they had been sexually abused by their father. Prosecutors denied that and accused them of killing their mother and father for cash. Within the years that adopted, they repeatedly appealed their convictions with out success.
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The brothers are being held on the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.