Menendez brothers case: What's next for killers after defense, DA spar over resentencing
Whether Erik and Lyle Menendez will see life outside prison walls is still unclear after their resentencing hearing was postponed for another month after a judge ruled that two motions needed to be settled before the process could move forward.
At the heart of the issue was Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s motion to continue citing access to a part of the comprehensive risk assessment (CRA) report that California Gov. Gavin Newsom requested for the clemency request and the Menendez team’s request for the DA to be admonished for showing crime scene photos at last week’s hearing.
Attorneys and Judge Michael Jesic will meet on May 9 to discuss next steps after the planned two-day resentencing was called off.
Court was paused for a short recess on Thursday as Jesic needed to clear up confusion and address frustrations over the CRA report.
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The report determines whether the brothers would pose a threat to the public if they were released. It was provided to prosecutors, and the judge was notified that he could read it prior to the scheduled hearing.
"The completion of the Comprehensive Risk Assessments is a significant development in this case," Hochman said. "It’s critical that Judge Jesic has sufficient time to thoroughly examine its findings and make an informed decision on its admissibility — before any resentencing hearing moves forward."
The judge said he wanted to move forward with witness testimony, but the brothers' attorney, Mark Geragos, argued that unless the judge were to choose to exclude the report, he would not move forward. Geragos requested a continuance to have time to file a motion to recuse the DA, adding he would have done that already if not for a time requirement to file such a motion.
The report was not shared with the defense, which Geragos argued was unfair.
Jesic said they received clarity from Newsom's office that it is not asserting privilege on the comprehensive risk assessment. With those results potentially coming into play, Geragos said he will file a motion to recuse the DA from the case within 10 days.
Geragos argued that he is not a party to the clemency proceedings where the report is involved, saying, "They keep mixing and matching."
A recusal motion requests that the individual steps away from a case because of a potential conflict of interest or bias that prevents them from operating impartially.
During the May 9 hearing, the parties will first address the motion to recuse, and then they will address whether the risk assessment will be admissible in court. Because of the personal nature of the report, some of it may be in closed court, the judge said. They will also not be conducting a resentencing hearing that day, so no testimony is expected.
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The Menendez legal team chose not to go forward with testimony in the resentencing on Thursday.
The "retraumatization" of coming back again for testimony versus needing to retestify if the DA team is removed is "the lesser of the two evils," said Bryan Freedman, another attorney for the brothers.
Jesic had made it clear that one of his main concerns was the time that family members took off and all the travel and other expenses made to be at this week's hearings. The defense team said the family understood, despite some traveling to be present.
"I don't want to keep retraumatizing the family," Geragos said. "I'll leave that to the DA."
Both brothers listened closely as this played out. Erik, who looked visibly annoyed, nodded along as the judge listed what they had planned for the May 9 hearing, while Lyle was emotionless, hearing that their bid for freedom had been pushed back.
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The judge declined the Menendez team’s request for the DA to be admonished for showing the crime photos, but asked both sides to provide warning.
"It is extremely rare…where you have victims also supporting the defendants," Jesic said. "I didn’t even think about it when the picture went up."
"It was a gruesome murder," he continued. "If anyone is uncomfortable, maybe they shouldn’t be here."
Jesic also reminded the prosecution that they were not there to retry the case. Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian had argued that it was necessary to show the photos.
"We need to understand that Erik and Lyle Menendez caused that carnage," he said.
Geragos condemned the prosecution’s tactics as a "dog and pony show," saying, "None of these shenanigans would have happened if this wasn’t the Menendez brothers."
"His personal bias is seething through in every action that has been taken," Freedman said of Hochman's intentions. Freedman added that many Menendez family members had never seen the crime scene images.
The judge then defended Balian, saying he had known him for years and believed there was no ill intent in showing the photos, though he admitted the situation was complex.
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Balian also apologized for sharing the images, saying that "it was never my intention" and that he was sorry someone ended up in a hospital after seeing the images.
The brothers’ attorneys and family held a news conference following the conclusion of Thursday's paused hearing.
"The family does not want to go through this charade anymore with the DA," Geragos said. "This is a DA who made up his mind and did no hard work in terms of his position. He is vindicating no one's interest."
Tamara Goodall, a cousin of Erik and Lyle, also spoke to the media and her disappointment with Thursday's outcome.
"It was very clear that Hochman has no desire to come at this objectively. He made the statement, and I quote, referring to all of the quote unquote horrible people that Mark represents. That does not tell me that this person has any ability to see Erik and Lyle through any other lens," Goodall said.
"Unfortunately, for this family, there are no secrets. For this family, there's no floor on the amount of trauma that they have to go through," Geragos said.
When asked how Lyle and Erik were taking the news, Geragos said that they were "cautiously optimistic."
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"There are a lot of reasons to believe that when we do the re-sentencing hearing, that we will get Judge Jesic to reduce this to a manslaughter and release them on time served," Geragos explained. "That's what the goal is here. The goal is not, as I stated in court, to get a 50-to-life and to convert this into a parole hearing. The goal here is very simple."
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Hochman's office said they "are aware of the defense’s concerns and welcome the opportunity to address them in court."
"Our office remains committed to ethical and impartial prosecution. We believe the facts will demonstrate that our conduct has been professional, appropriate, and in the interest of justice," Hochman said.
He also thanked his team of prosecutors — Balian and Deputy District Attorneys Seth Carmack and Ethan Milius — for their "unwavering commitment to ensuring that the Court is presented with the full picture."
"They have shown extraordinary dedication and professionalism throughout this process, and their work continues to honor the memory of Jose and Kitty Menendez," Hochman said.
Hochman previously criticized the brothers' decision to "stubbornly remain hunkered down in their over 30-year-old bunker of lies, deceit and denials."
The Menendez brothers and their supporters have been pushing for a resentencing hearing, saying the brothers had been unfairly convicted to life in prison in 1996 for murdering their two parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home in 1989.
Their first trial ended in a mistrial, when jurors couldn't agree on their fate. After a second trial in the mid-1990s, in which some of their evidence about the alleged sexual abuse was excluded, jurors agreed with prosecutors that their motive had been greed.
Fox News Digital's Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.