Menendez brothers’ resentencing listening to postponed till January 2025 | EUROtoday

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A California choose has postponed a resentencing listening to for the Menendez brothers to January 2025.

The listening to to resolve whether or not Erik Menendez and Lyle Menendez needs to be given an opportunity at parole was initially scheduled for December 11, however now shall be January 30-31, after Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic mentioned Monday that he wanted extra time to overview the case and mentioned he needs to provide the newly elected Los Angeles district lawyer sufficient time to rise up to hurry.

The brothers have been discovered responsible of murdering their dad and mom, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989 at their Beverly Hills dwelling and sentenced to life in jail with out parole.

After 28 years behind bars, the brothers appeared nearly from the San Diego jail the place they’re each incarcerated. The final time they have been seen in public was in 1996 throughout their second trial after the primary led to a mistrial.

While their protection attorneys argued at trial that that they had been sexually abused by their father, prosecutors denied that and accused them of killing their dad and mom for cash. They repeatedly appealed their convictions with out success.

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Now, at 53 and 56, Erik and Lyle are making a brand new bid for freedom.

Earlier this yr, the brothers’ lawyer filed a habeas corpus petition asking a choose to think about new proof of their father’s alleged sexual abuse.

The new proof features a letter Erik Menendez wrote in 1988 to his uncle Andy Cano, describing the sexual abuse he had endured from his father. The brothers requested their legal professionals about it after it was talked about in a 2015 Barbara Walters tv particular.

The legal professionals hadn’t recognized of the letter and realized it had not been launched at their trials, making it successfully new proof that they are saying corroborates allegations that Erik was sexually abused by his father.

Another piece of latest proof emerged when Roy Rossello, a former member of the Latin pop group Menudo, just lately got here ahead saying he had been drugged and raped by Jose Menendez, the boys’ father, when he was a teen within the Nineteen Eighties. Menudo was signed underneath RCA Records, the place Jose Menendez was chief working officer.

Rossello spoke about his abuse within the Peacock docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed and offered a signed declaration to the brothers’ legal professionals.

Had these two items of proof been out there throughout the brothers’ trial, prosecutors wouldn’t have been capable of argue that there was no corroboration of sexual abuse, or that their father Jose Menendez was not the “kind of man that would” abuse kids, the petition argues.

The latest releases of the Netflix drama Monsters: Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and the documentary The Menendez Brothers in 2024 introduced renewed public consideration to their plight.

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Prosecutors really helpful resentencing for the brothers final month, saying they’ve labored on redemption and rehabilitation and demonstrated good conduct inside jail.

Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón held a information convention lower than two weeks earlier than Election Day, asking for brand new sentences of fifty years to life. This may make them instantly eligible for parole as a result of they have been lower than 26 years previous after they killed their dad and mom.

Immediate freedom is one potential consequence; the choose additionally would possibly weigh in on the deserves of the proof. And if the brothers don’t get reduction in court docket, they’ll hope California’s governor will grant them clemency.

While clemency is likely to be one other pathway to freedom for the brothers, California Gov. Gavin Newsom mentioned final week that he gained’t resolve till incoming Los Angeles district lawyer Nathan Hochman opinions the case.

Hochman, a Republican-turned-Independent, unseated the progressive Gascón on December 2.

“Before I can make any decision about the Menendez brothers’ case, I will need to become thoroughly familiar with the relevant facts, the evidence and the law,” Hochman mentioned in a press release.