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Trial dates for the Menendez brothers, who were angry with the efforts, have been determined

Trial dates for the Menendez brothers, who were angry with the efforts, have been determined

LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A pair of hearings will be held in November and December to consider various proposals that could lead to the release of Erik and Lyle Menendez, who were sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 1989 shotgun murders. The parents are at their mansion in Beverly Hills.

On Wednesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic scheduled a Dec. 11 hearing to hear a case. Petition submitted by the District Attorney’s Office We demand that the brothers be sentenced to 50 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Given the brothers’ ages at the time of the crime, such a move would make them potentially immediately eligible for parole as juvenile offenders, even though they had only served about 35 years behind bars.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos said a hearing will be held on November 25 on the defense petition to re-evaluate the case, during which he will ask for the brothers to be resentenced on the lesser charge of premeditated murder and for their immediate release. prison.

“The district attorney is recommending that they be sentenced from age 50 to life in prison, which would make them immediately eligible for parole,” Geragos told KNX News Wednesday afternoon. he said. “We will ask the judge to use his ability not only to recall the (current) sentence, but also to sentence (them) to a lighter sentence (crime), which is voluntary manslaughter and gives them a statute of limitations.”

He told the station that if things go in the defense team’s favor, the brothers could be home for the holiday season.

“That’s one of the reasons why we set the November date and the backup December date, so we’re hopeful,” he said.

Meanwhile, the defense team has also filed paperwork with Governor Gavin Newsom requesting clemency for the Menendez brothers. On Wednesday, District Attorney George Gascón said he would support the request.

“I strongly support the pardon of Erik and Lyle Menendez, who are currently serving life sentences without the possibility of parole,” Gascón said in a statement. he said. “They served for 34 years respectively and continued their education, working to create new programs to support the rehabilitation of their fellow inmates.”
Gascón announced last week that his office would seek resentencing against the brothers. Prosecutors later filed a 56-page motion, saying the brothers “demonstrated extraordinary post-conviction behavior, which is a critical factor in evaluating their eligibility for release” and that they “no longer pose a public safety risk … such that their current status” was revealed. “Punishment no longer serves the purpose of furthering justice.”

WATCH: LA District Attorney praises Menendez brothers’ good behavior in prison

LA District Attorney highlights Menendez brothers’ good behavior in prison

Erik Menendez, 53, and Lyle Menendez, 56, who claim they were sexually abused by their father, are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole for killing their parents, Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” in Beverly Hills. mansion on August 20, 1989.

It will be up to the judge to decide whether he is truly angry with the couple.

If a judge accepts the resentencing recommended by the District Attorney’s Office, the matter will go to the state parole board to determine whether the brothers are eligible for parole and release from prison. If the board grants parole, the governor can still deny it.
The issue would become moot if a judge accepts Geragos’ call to resentence the brothers’ sentences already served for the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.

The file from the District Attorney’s Office states that Erik was 18 years old at the time of the crime, preparing to attend UCLA in the fall, and Lyle Menendez was a 21-year-old Princeton University student.

Prosecutors wrote that “the childhood abuse and trauma suffered by both defendants in this case is sufficient to be considered in court” under the new law that allows resentencing in some cases.

“Both men have made incredible contributions to the prison system as a whole and to their fellow inmates on a very personal level. Erik and Lyle Menendez have done and continue to do good deeds and contributions without any expectation or hope. They were released according to the file.” “They used their incarceration time well and are showing that they no longer pose a risk to public safety. Erik and Lyle Menendez deserve a lesser sentence.”

In court documents filed last year, the brothers’ attorneys pointed to two new pieces of evidence that substantiated the brothers’ claims of long-term sexual abuse by their father: a letter from Erik Menendez to one of his cousins. In early 1989, eight months before the August 1989 murders and recent allegations that Roy Rosselló, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, had been sexually abused by Jose Menendez in his youth.

Erik Menendez's letter

ABC News/LA District Attorney

The Menendez case has gained renewed public attention since the release of a recent Netflix documentary.

The brothers never denied committing the murders, but claimed they were repeatedly sexually assaulted by their father and feared for their lives.

But during their trial, prosecutors pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, saying the killings were motivated by financial reasons and pointing to the brothers’ excessive spending spree after the murders.

The brothers’ first trial ended with jurors unable to reach a verdict and deadlocked on lesser charges, including first-degree murder and manslaughter. The second trial, which began in October 1995 and contained most of the testimony focused on Jose Menendez’s sexual abuse allegations, resulted in the conviction of both brothers for first-degree murder and conspiracy.
The brothers repeatedly appealed their convictions, but to no avail.

Court documents filed by defense attorneys last year included a copy of a handwritten letter Erik Menendez allegedly sent to his cousin Andy Cano. Lawyers argue that the letter was only recently discovered by Cano’s mother. Cano, who died of a drug overdose in 2003, testified at the brothers’ first trial that Erik Menendez told him about his father’s abuse when Erik was 13, according to court documents.

In the letter, Erik Menendez writes in part: “I try to stay away from my father. It still happens, Andy, but it’s worse for me now. I can’t explain it. … I never know when it will happen.” and it’s driving me crazy. I stay up every night thinking he might come in. I need to get that out of my mind.”

Defense attorneys also addressed allegations that emerged in the Peacock docuseries last year; In these allegations, Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, claimed that Jose Menendez drugged and sexually assaulted him during his visit when he was approximately 14 years old. To Menendez’s home in New Jersey in 1983 or 1984.

WATCH: LA County District Attorney reveals his office did not make unanimous decision to plead

LA County District Attorney’s Office: Office did not reach unanimous decision on Menendez

Jose Menendez was the executive of RCA Records who signed Menudo to a recording contract.

“I know what you did to me in your house,” Rosselló said in the series. In another episode, he shows Jose Menendez’s photo and says: “This is the man who raped me here. He is a pedophile.”

The statement of Rosselló, who also claimed that Menendez sexually assaulted her twice more in New York, was added to the court documents filed on behalf of the Menendez brothers last year.

Lawyers for the Menendez brothers argued that new evidence warranted reopening the case.

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