After decades in prison for the brutal murders of their parents, the waiting is nearly over for brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez in their bid for freedom.
Following disagreements between the current and former Los Angeles County district attorney and a series of legal fits and starts delayed the matter in recent months, L.A. County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic ruled Friday that the brothers’ resentencing hearing can go forward Tuesday. The hearing is expected to last two days at the Van Nuys Courthouse.
The brothers were convicted of murder with special circumstances in the 1989 shotgun slayings of their parents, Jose and Kitty, at the family’s Beverly Hills home.
Erik, then 18, confessed to the killings in a conversation with his therapist and the two were later sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. While the brothers claimed Jose sexually abused them and was a threat to their lives, prosecutors contended they killed their parents to get early access to their multimillion-dollar inheritance.
The brothers have been hoping for their day in court since October, when then-Dist. Atty. George Gascón asked a judge to make them eligible for parole. Resentencing could trigger their eligibility for parole through the state’s youthful offender law since they were under 26 at the time of the murders.
Gascón cited the brothers’ work creating rehabilitation programs in prison, their low-risk assessments from corrections officials and potential new evidence about their father’s alleged abusive behavior as reasons they should be set free.
But after Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman trounced Gascón in November, he vowed to re-examine the case. In March, he said he would not support resentencing, contending the brothers had not taken proper “insight” into their crimes and were still lying about being afraid their parents might kill them to cover up Jose’s alleged abuse.
Hochman previously asked Jesic to disregard Gascón’s motion and only consider filings submitted under his administration in the case, but the judge rejected that bid last month, saying there “was nothing really new” in those filings.
Hochman, who appeared on the record in court instead of the line prosecutors assigned to the case, again asked Jesic to throw out Gascón’s petition Friday. This time, he insisted information contained in a risk-assessment report generated by the parole board under the direction of Gov. Gavin Newsom — who is separately considering a request for clemency from the brothers — would have been critical for Gascón to review.
Jesic again denied Hochman’s request.
A coalition of relatives supporting Erik and Lyle’s release have been in dispute with Hochman over the case in recent weeks, some of which served as the basis of a motion filed last month by defense attorney Mark Geragos seeking to disqualify Hochman and his prosecutors.
The family has accused Hochman of holding a bias against the brothers and acting “hostile, dismissive and patronizing” toward them during a meeting earlier this year. Geragos also contends Hochman created a conflict by hiring Kathy Cady — a former prosecutor and victims rights attorney who previously represented the lone Menendez relative opposed to their release — as the director of his bureau of victims services. Hochman has maintained Cady is “walled off” from the case.
The family has also questioned Hochman’s decision to transfer the two prosecutors who filed the initial motion to resentence the brothers. The attorneys, Nancy Theberge and Brock Lunsford, have sued Hochman for retaliation.
Hochman has denied all allegations of bias and said he is simply following the law.
Geragos withdrew his motion to disqualify on Friday, saying only he had “rethought” his position.
