LOS ANGELES (AP) — Erik and Lyle Menendez may be taught this week whether or not they’ll get decreased sentences — and the possibility of freedom — almost 30 years after they had been convicted of murdering their mother and father.
A Los Angeles decide will preside over the resentencing listening to that’s anticipated to final two days beginning Thursday. The decide may rule through the listening to or difficulty a written determination later. If he shortens their sentences, the brothers would nonetheless want approval from the state’s parole board to depart jail.
The district lawyer’s workplace filed a movement late Wednesday to delay the resentencing hearings so prosecutors can acquire the state parole board’s complete danger assessments. California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the assessments in February and the brothers’ remaining danger evaluation hearings are scheduled for June 13. Prosecutors mentioned of their submitting that the parole board has already accomplished its stories.
The brothers had been sentenced in 1996 to life in jail with out the opportunity of parole for murdering their leisure govt father Jose Menendez and mom Kitty Menendez of their Beverly Hills dwelling in 1989. The brothers had been 18 and 21 on the time of the killings. Whereas protection attorneys argued the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors mentioned the brothers killed their mother and father for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
The case has captured the general public’s consideration for many years, and the Netflix drama “ Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story ” and documentary “The Menendez Brothers” have been credited with bringing new consideration to the case. Supporters of the brothers have flown in from throughout the nation to attend rallies and hearings in current few months.
The resentencing listening to will middle on whether or not the brothers have been rehabilitated in jail and deserve a lesser sentence of fifty years to life. That may make them eligible for parole beneath California’s youthful offender legislation as a result of they dedicated the crime once they had been youthful than 26.
Former Los Angeles District Legal professional George Gascón requested a decide final yr to scale back the brothers’ sentences. He misplaced reelection to Nathan Hochman, who moved to withdraw the resentencing request and has argued the brothers haven’t taken full accountability for his or her crimes.
A resentencing petition laid out by Gascón focuses on the brothers’ accomplishments and rehabilitation. The brothers’ attorneys say their shoppers have labored exhausting over the a long time to higher themselves and provides again to the jail neighborhood. The prolonged Menendez household, excluding an uncle who died final month, has mentioned they absolutely forgive the brothers for what they did and wish them to be freed.
With Hochman in cost, prosecutors argued final Friday they might not assist the brothers’ resentencing. Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom Decide Michael Jesic dominated the resentencing hearings may proceed regardless of their opposition.
Prosecutors have mentioned the brothers haven’t admitted to lies instructed throughout their trial about why they killed their mother and father, or that they requested their buddies to lie for them in court docket. Hochman’s workplace has additionally mentioned it doesn’t consider that the brothers had been sexually abused by their father and that by talking about their childhood abuse, they haven’t taken full accountability for the crime.
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