By JAIMIE DING
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Erik and Lyle Menendez’s resentencing listening to has been set for Dec. 11, when a decide will resolve whether or not they are going to have a shot at freedom after spending 34 years behind bars for the shotgun killings of their mother and father in 1989 at their Beverly Hills house.
The date was determined Wednesday by Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom Choose Michael Jesic after prosecutors submitted a advice for the brothers’ resentencing final week. After an preliminary mistrial with a hung jury for every of the brothers, they had been convicted of killing their mother and father, Kitty and Jose Menendez, and sentenced to life with out parole in jail.
The brothers’ attorneys by no means disputed the pair killed their mother and father, however argued that they acted out of self-defense after years of emotional and sexual abuse by their father. A lot of the proof associated to abuse was excluded from their second trial.
Los Angeles County District Lawyer George Gascón stated his workplace would advocate the brothers be given a sentence of fifty years to life, which might make them instantly eligible for parole since they had been underneath the age of 26 when the crime was dedicated.
If the decide approves the resentencing, the brothers will nonetheless want a state parole board to grant their launch. California Gov. Gavin Newsom then has 150 days to overview its choice.
Gascón stated he took a number of components into consideration when making his advice, together with the brothers’ rehabilitation in jail. In paperwork filed by his workplace, prosecutors pointed to the brothers’ instructional achievements — each have attained a number of levels — and contributions to the group, comparable to a jail beautification program began by Lyle Menendez.
A number of generations of members of the family of Erik and Lyle Menendez have pleaded for the brothers’ launch from jail, saying they need to be free as a result of that they had been “brutalized” and sexually abused by their father.
Nevertheless, not everybody in Gascón’s workplace agreed together with his choice. One of many brothers’ uncles additionally needs them to stay in jail. These against resentencing will doubtless have a possibility to argue their case in entrance of the decide.
Their attorneys stated the brothers may also have a listening to Nov. 25 concerning a habeas petition filed final 12 months, which asks for the courtroom to take a look at new proof not beforehand launched at their second trial. This might nonetheless doubtlessly be one other pathway to freedom.
Newsom talked about the case on iHeartRadio’s “Politickin’” podcast just lately and stated he was reviewing the matter. He famous that the Netflix drama “ Monsters: Lyle and Erik Menendez Story ” had introduced consideration to the case and that his group had examined Gascón’s choice.
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