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https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-05-13/menendez-brothers- resentencing-hearing

The resentencing hearing for Erik and Lyle Menendez on Tuesday featured emotional testimony from family members, several of whom said in court
that the brothers should be freed from prison for the shotgun killing of
their parents more than 30 years ago.

The result, announced at the end of the day by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic, was a potential path to release. Jesic said he
would resentence the brothers to 50 years to life, giving them a chance at
a parole hearing.

�I do believe they�ve done enough over the first 35 years that one day
they should get that chance� to be released, the judge said.

Anamaria Baralt, often wiping away tears, testified that the relatives of victims Jose and Kitty Menendez wanted a judge to give her two cousins a
lesser sentence than life without parole for the 1989 murders inside their Beverly Hills mansion.

�We all on both sides of the family say 35 years is enough,� she said in
the Van Nuys courtroom. �They are universally forgiven by both sides of
their families.�

The hearing was the culmination of years of advocacy by the family to free
Erik and Lyle Menendez. The brothers were convicted of first-degree
murder.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos asked Jesic to resentence the brothers to manslaughter, arguing they shot their parents to death out of fear their
father might kill them to cover up years of sexual abuse.

Last year, then-Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gasc�n asked for the brothers to receive a new sentence of 50 years to life in prison, which
would make them eligible for parole under the state�s youthful offender
law. Under that scenario, a parole board would still ultimately decide on
their freedom.

The brothers could also still receive clemency from Gov. Gavin Newsom.

California�s resentencing law leans heavily in favor of defendants, a
point Jesic reminded the courtroom of early Tuesday. Under state law,
Jesic said, he could block a resentencing petition only if the defendant
poses an �unreasonable risk of danger to public safety,� meaning there is
a risk they will commit another violent crime � such as murder,
manslaughter or rape � if they are released.

Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman this year announced his opposition to the
brothers� release. He alleged that the brothers had failed to show proper �insight� into their crimes and contended they continue to lie about the
motive behind the murders, dismissing the idea that they genuinely feared
Jose would kill them to cover up abuse.

�The Menendez brothers have never come fully clean for all the lies, the cover-up, the deceit, that they have engaged in for more than 30 years,� Hochman said outside the courthouse Tuesday morning during a brief news conference.

Jesic noted in court that Hochman�s arguments are more applicable in a
parole hearing, not a resentencing proceeding.

Baralt, whose mother was Jose Menendez�s older sister, said in court that
the family had endured decades of pain from the scrutiny of the murders.

�From the day it happened ... it has been a relentless examination of our family in the public eye,� she said, beginning to cry. �It has been
torture for decades.�

She said the family was the butt of repeated jokes on �Saturday Night
Live� and lived like outcasts who wore a �scarlet M.�

In the gruesome 1989 murders, the brothers bought shotguns with cash and
opened fire as their mother and father watched a movie. Jose Menendez was
shot five times, including in the kneecaps and the back of the head. Kitty Menendez crawled on the floor, wounded, before one of the brothers
reloaded and fired a fatal blast, jurors heard at their two trials.

On the stand Tuesday, Baralt echoed the brothers� justification for
killing their parents, saying it was related to sexual abuse they endured.
But Baralt also told the judge that she believes they have changed and are �very aware of the consequences of their actions.�

�I don�t think they are the same people they were 30 years ago,� she said.

Diane Hernandez, another cousin, told the courtroom about the �Hallway
Rule� that governed where people could or could not be in Jose Menendez�s
home. If the father was alone with Erik and Lyle in an upstairs room, no
one else could be on that level, she said. Oftentimes, Hernandez said,
Jose would then tell the rest of the family whichever brother he had just isolated �felt sick� and could not join the family for dinner. On cross- examination, she said she never witnessed either brother being abused.

Prosecutor Habib Balian spent the morning trying to punch holes in the relatively clean reputations the brothers have earned behind bars. Both brothers had repeatedly received �low� risk scores from state corrections officials until the recent report that Hochman invoked, which raised their
risk level to �moderate.�

Under cross-examination, Baralt acknowledged that she never thought her
cousins were capable of killing their parents until they�d done it. She
also said that before their criminal trial decades ago, Lyle Menendez had
asked a witness to lie for him on the stand.

Nearly two dozen of the brothers� relatives, including several who
testified Tuesday, formed the Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition to
advocate for their release as interest in the case reignited in recent
years. The release of a popular Netflix documentary on the murders, which included the unearthing of additional documentation of the alleged sexual abuse, helped fuel a motion for a new trial.

The family has become increasingly public in its fight for Erik and Lyle�s release after Hochman opposed his predecessor�s recommendation to
resentence them. The relatives have repeatedly accused Hochman of bias
against the brothers, called for him to be disqualified from the case and alleged he intimidated and bullied them during a private meeting. Hochman
has denied all accusations of bias and wrongdoing, and says he simply
disagrees with their position.

Kitty Menendez�s brother Milton was the only member of the family opposed
to Erik and Lyle�s release, but he died this year. Kathy Cady, who served
as his victims� rights attorney, is now the head of Hochman�s Bureau of
Victim Services, another point of aggravation for the relatives fighting
for the brothers� release.

Tamara Goodell � a Menendez cousin who previously filed a formal complaint against Hochman � testified Tuesday she had no reservations about freeing
the two men who killed her great-aunt, noting Erik and Lyle had repeatedly apologized to her and the family.

The three have been writing letters back and forth since 2000, according
to Goodell, who described rehabilitative programs the brothers have
launched for other inmates and said continuing to imprison them would only �prevent the good� they can do in this world.

She saved her ire for Hochman, describing a January meeting at which she
said the district attorney was hostile and defensive while she questioned
him about Cady�s hiring.

�You�re a victim in this case, aren�t you?� Geragos asked her.

�I�m glad you see it that way,� Goodell responded, while staring daggers
at the prosecution table.


--
November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
forward to America being great again.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.

Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama
/ Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

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