The long -awaited offer of Freedom of Erik and Lyle Menéndez will be delayed a little more.
A resentment hearing that would be supposed to begin on Thursday and could have the brothers an opportunity for probation for the first time in more than 35 years was delayed after a fight on access to a probation document ordered by the Government. Gavin Newsom paralyzed the procedures, and established a confrontation that could end with the prosecutors of Los Angeles County, expelled the case.
On Wednesday night, the County prosecutors presented a motion in search of a continuation because it did not have adequate time to review a “comprehensive risk assessment” document compiled by the State’s probation board. Newsom earlier this year Asked the Board to carry out the review As Het consulting the Clemencia brothers in the 1989 murders of their parents, José and Kitty Menéndez.
The brothers were sentenced by murder with special circumstances and sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of probation after a 1995 trial.
The resontent hearing became a possibility last year after the then county of the Atty district. George Gascón asked a judge To make the brothers eligible for probation under California’s law, reducing their sentences because the murders occurred when they live at the age of 26. Gascón cited the work of the brothers creating prison rehabilitation programs and the Eagles assign the alleged abusive behavior of the father as reasons why they should be released.
Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman firmly opposes his release and has focused his arguments on what he sees as the refusal of the brothers to take possession of the spooky murders.
Los Angeles Dist. Atty County. Nathan Hochman, shown outside the Thorsday court, firmly opposes the liberation of the Méndez brothers and has focused his arguments on what he sees as his refusal to take possession of the spooky murders of the parents of tea.
(Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press)
The District Prosecutor’s Office presented a motion asking for delaying the hearing so that the last risk assessment of the brothers carried out by the State’s probation board could see. Hochman said Thorsday that his office only received the report on Tuesday, but did not comment on its content. Hello, he said he wanted to make sure that the judge of the Superior Court of the County of the Michael Jesus had all the material he needed to issue a precise decision.
But the Newsom office said Thursday that the report is not complete and that it would not be available until June.
“Our office notified Judge Jesus about the state of this report, which is not an independent risk assessment, and sacrifices to share it with the court if he requested it,” the Newsom office, the document as essentially a first draft.
The lawyer of the brothers, Mark Geragos, dismissed the motion of continuity as a barn María de Hochman, A week after he lost the attempt that Gascón’s resonseciation request was demolished. But as the day progressed, Geragos was the way to express the frustration that he had not caused a copy. In all, the lawyer expressed concern that he could not question his witnesses without reviewing the report and the case continued next month.
“I will tell you that we were the option as a family if we wanted to testify today,” said Anamaria Baralt, cousin of the brothers. “But the idea of testifying when one side has information that the other side does not, and being facing the interrogation of a team that has information that does not, whether it is good, bad or neutral, did not seem fair to us at all.”
A hearing to determine if the risk assessment report is relevant to a resentment audience for May 9. Geragos also plans to argue a motion that day for the prosecutors of the county of the County to have withdrawn from the case. Although he did not offer specific reasons for the motion of disqualification in the court, Geragos and many members of the Menéndez family who want the Liberern brothers to have repeatedly accused Hochman of bias in the case and if they are hostile and abusive private meetings. Hochman disputes those statements.
“This is a day that was decided and did not do any hard work in terms of its position,” Geragos said, adding that Hochman “has taken a position at all times that is not backed by law.”
Hochman held a press conference outside the Thorsday Morning court, a few minutes before Jesus the Bench. Within the courtroom, Geragos showed Videos or comments of Hochman and said that the DA implied that there was something negative in the probation report.
The lawyer Mark Geragos, who represents Lyle and Erik Menéndez, speaks to the media when he arrives at the Court in Los Angeles on Thursday.
(Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press)
Geragos also questioned whether the report was equally admissible, since it was generated for the purposes of a hearing on probation. In a resentment hearing, Jesus would only decide if the brothers are eligible for probation, not if they would really be granted liberation. On Thursday afternoon, Geragos said that Newsom staff insisted on the phone that the document was not meean to be used at a resentment hearing. The governor’s office did not respond to additional comments requests.
On August 20, 1989, Erik and Lyle Méndez entered the house of Beverly Hills of the armed family with shotguns they had bought with cash and opened fire while their parents were watching a movie. José Menséndez was shot five times in the bruises and head. Kitty Menéndez was dragging, covered with blood, when one of the brothers hit her with a final and fatal shotgun explosion.
Erik, then 18, confessed the murders in a conversation with his therapist. While the brothers said that José abused them and was a threat to their lives, prosecutors argued that they killed their parents to obtain early access to their multimillion -dollar heritage.
An impulse to free the brothers won steam last year after the launch of a popular Netflix documentary about the case, which included the unearthed of the Advertissions documentation of the alleged sexual abuse of José. In a motion for a new trial, the defense lawyers pointed out a letter that Erik sent to one of his cousins that details the behavior of his father, who delivered eight months before the murders. The motion also contained a statement from a member of the band of often that he claimed that José violated him when he was a teenager in 1984.
Almost two boxes from the loved ones of the brothers have formed justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition, a group led by the family that advocates for their freedom. The only member of the Menéndez family who opposed the liberation of the brothers died this year.
On Thursday morning, the extensive Méndez family left three black SUVs and walked to the camera of representatives surrounded by news teams that held cameras centimeters from their faces. Later of the reporters swarmed Geragos and Hochman when they reached the judicial complex.
Geragos is expected to call several relatives as whites when the real resentment audience occurs, as well as a former inmate who was advised by the brothers. It is assumed that a correctional supervisor who thinks so well in the brothers that he would not mind if they were neighbors must also take the position, Geragos said on the open court last week.
Erik Menéndez’s daughter, Talia Menéndez, the center and other supporters of the brothers arrive at the Court in Los Angeles on Thursday.
(Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press)
It is not clear if the brothers will testify at a resentment audience. Hochman said that Thursday was not sure if the district prosecutor’s office will call any witness.
Hochman, who accused Gascon of looking Opposition to the launch of the brothers. Hochman said Thursday that the position of his office in the brothers chooses for the resaneance is better described as “not yet”, instead of “No.”
“We have identified a way for the Meséndez brothers to present, recognize all the lies they have told in the last 30 years … they can say that we have bone rehabilitation, we no longer have a wardrobe seller.”
Hochman and his prosecutors have argued that the analysis of the case of the case of the case was on paper, questioned the validity of his self -defense claims and repeatedly insisted on the circumstances of the shooting. Hochman has also said that the brothers have not demonstrated an adequate “vision” about their crimes.
At an audience last week looking to revoke Gascón’s request, Jesus agreed with a defense argument that “Insight” was not relevant to a request for resentment. That standard applies only to a probation hearing, said the judge.
Hochman said Thursday that he did not agree with part of that interpretation, arguing that probation and resentment standards overlap. By continuing “minimizing their crimes,” said Hochman, the Menéndez brothers have shown that they have not undergone rehabilitation, as defined by the Supreme Court of the State.
If the brothers are possible, possibly resontent, they could be on the way to a probation hearing.
If Jesus rejects his request, the brothers still have two routes to release: a motion for a new trial citing additional evidence of sexual abuse and the petition for clemency before Newsom.
