The brand new Los Angeles County District Legal professional met with the Menendez brothers’ household as he continues to overview their bid for freedom 35 years after they have been convicted of killing their dad and mom.
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 ought to be launched.
The assembly lasted about three hours.
Brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez have 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 legal professionals filed a habeas corpus petition — a request for a court docket to look at whether or not somebody is being lawfully detained — in Might 2023, asking a decide to contemplate the proof.
The brothers have the help of most of their prolonged household, who have mentioned they should be free after many years behind bars.
A number of members of the family have mentioned that in in the present day’s world — which is extra conscious of the impression 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, known as it a “determined political transfer.”
“By releasing it now, Gascon has forged a cloud over the equity and impartiality of his determination,” he mentioned on the time.
A decide delayed the brothers’ resentencing listening to, initially set for early December, to the top of January.
Superior Court docket Decide Michael Jesic mentioned he wanted time to overview in depth proof and provides Hochman time to weigh in on the case.
Hochman mentioned Friday he was nonetheless reviewing 1000’s of pages of jail data to “analyze the rehabilitation facet of resentencing.”
Proof of rehabilitation might embrace not partaking in criminal activity whereas in jail, beginning organizations that helped different prisoners, and utilizing that point to enhance oneself, he mentioned.
On the brothers’ unique trials, their protection attorneys argued that they’d been sexually abused by their father.
Prosecutors denied that and accused them of killing their dad and mom for cash.
Within the years that adopted, they repeatedly appealed their convictions with out success.
The brothers are being held on the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.
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