Menendez brothers will appear in court for the first time to demand freedom

Brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez, who were sentenced to life in prison without parole for the shotgun murder of their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion, will make their first court appearance Monday to seek their release after more than 34 years behind bars.

The brothers will attend the hearing in Van Nuys via video from the San Diego county jail where they are being held.

Defense attorneys Mark Geragos and Clifford Gardner kicked things off last year by filing a motion to vacate the brothers’ convictions, arguing that newly uncovered evidence supported the brother’s claim of sexual abuse against their father, Jose. Judge Michael V. Jesic will consider their motion and hear a response from Los Angeles County Dist. Lawyer. George Gascon.

This habeas motion These included a letter Erik Menendez sent to his cousin in December 1988 (eight months before the murders) confirming allegations of abuse. It also included a statement from Roy Rosselló, a member of the boy band Menudo. She claimed that Jose Menendez raped her in 1984 When I was 13 or 14 years old.

Geragos said the brothers’ conviction should be thrown out in light of the new evidence, which could have freed them immediately for the murders at 722 North Elm Drive or resulted in them being resentenced on a lesser charge. Alternatively, the motion requests that the judge recall the case for a hearing on the evidence.

Ultimately, Geragos said, it’s “in the hands of a respected judge.” Geragos said it was a judicial decision “even though there was a lot of crosscurrents,” with some prosecutors and relatives supporting the brothers and others opposing them.

Separately, Gascón requested the following from Supreme Court Justice William Ryan: give the brothers a new sentence The move will allow them to be eligible for parole as young offenders because they committed the crime when they were under 26. However, this motion will not be heard until Gascón leaves office.

The two brothers were convicted of murder under special circumstances, a charge punishable only by life without parole or the death penalty in California. The 1989 murders and subsequent televised trial sparked documentaries, films and television series that made the brothers two of the most publicly known prisoners.

While the likes of Kim Kardashian visit them in prison, tourists still linger outside the Elm Drive Mediterranean mansion where the couple killed their parents.

The brothers had been unsuccessful in their appeals for years, but now they were able to find a path to freedom.

In 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez bought a pair of shotguns with cash, broke into their home, and shot their parents while they were watching a movie in the family’s living room. Prosecutors said Jose Menendez was shot five times, including in the back of the head, and Kitty Menendez crawled on the ground wounded before the brothers reloaded the guns and fired the final, fatal blast.

During the hearings, prosecutors repeatedly showed gruesome images of Kitty Menendez’s mangled facial features as she lay on a blood-soaked couch after her husband was bombed at point-blank range.

Prosecutors argue that the murders were motivated by greed and the brothers’ desire to take their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate.

But during the hearings, Erik and Lyle Menendez detailed what they said was their father’s years of violent sexual abuse.

Gascón said he would also support Gov. Gavin Newsom’s offer of clemency for the brothers.

But Newsom said he would delay any decision on pardons until he hears from L.A. County Dist. Lawyer. Nathan Hochman gives his views after reviewing thousands of pages of evidence in the case. Hochman, who takes office next month after soundly defeating Gascón’s re-election bid, campaigned for a tougher stance on crime and questioned whether Gascón acted to gain publicity in the Menendez case.

A separate hearing on Gascon’s request for resentencing is scheduled for December. Hochman said he would review the evidence before making a decision on the case.

But Geragos argues that case law from several years ago involving the San Francisco district attorney means that the incoming district attorney cannot reverse what his predecessor did on a motion to reinstate. “Once you push the door, you can’t close that door,” Geragos said.

More more than 20 relatives Some of the brothers asked for their release. More than a dozen family members were present when Gascón announced his decision to commute the sentence last month.

“We know this is not an easy decision, but it is the right decision,” said Joan VanderMolen, Kitty Menendez’s sister. “This is about truth, justice and healing.”

There is no doubt that the brothers killed their parents, but Gascón said the issue was whether the jury heard evidence that their father abused them and whether that evidence affected the outcome of the case.

When the brothers were tried by separate juries for the first time, evidence of sexual abuse, including testimony from family friends and relatives, was included, resulting in jurors failing to reach a unanimous verdict.

But when they were retried before a single jury, jurors did not hear much of the testimony supporting the sexual abuse allegations. The two were convicted of first-degree murder in March 1996.

The brothers’ work leading rehabilitation programs while in prison also factored into the decision to make them eligible for parole, Gascón said.

The duo has been working in prison programs for years to help inmates cope with trauma and help those with physical disabilities. They both received college degrees.

“I would never imply that what we are doing here is excusing their behavior. … If you are being harassed, the right way is to call the police,” Gascón said. “Even though they didn’t think they would be set free, they embarked on a different journey; a journey of liberation and a journey of rehabilitation.”

If the judge eventually agrees to resentence the couple, their fate will still rest with the parole board, which will decide whether to release them. Newsom could also veto the parole board’s decision.

Kitty Menendez’s 90-year-old brother, Milton Andersen, criticized the decision to impose new sentences on the murderers. He said Gascón refused to meet him for a meeting before announcing his decision to the media.

“Mr. Andersen was left in the dark and, instead of being treated with the dignity and respect he deserved, was forced to learn important developments in his sister’s case through the media,” said Andersen’s attorney, Kathy Cady.