Menéndez Brothers Case: DA asks the Court to deny his request for a new trial

Los Angeles County District Prosecutor, Nathan Hochman, said he asked the court to deny the request of the Menéndez brothers corpus, whose objective is to obtain a new trial or the discarded case.

Erik and Lyle Menéndez presented Habeas Corpus’s request in 2023 for a review of new evidence not presented at the trial.

Two new tests are in the center of the petition.

One is a letter that Erik Menéndez wrote to his cousin Andy Cano eight months before the murders detail his alleged abuse of his father. The cousin testified about the alleged abuse in the trial, but the letter, which would have corroborated the testimony of the cousin, was not found until several years ago, according to the brothers’ lawyer.

The second piece is the accusations of a former member of the Band of Children often, Roy Rossello, who revealed in 2023 that he was violated by the father of the brothers, José Menéndez.

Hochman explained that the standard for a successful request for habeas has multiple requirements: it must demonstrate that it is a new evidence; It must demonstrate that it is appropriate and the evidence could not be discovered at the time of the trial; He must demonstrate that he did not participate in a delay when he learned of the evidence and brought his motion; The evidence must be credible; And the evidence must be admissible.

Hochman argues that Cano’s letter is not credible evidence.

“If this letter really existed, the defense lawyer would have used it absolutely in the trial because it would help to corroborate” testimony of Cano and Erik Menéndez, Hochman said at a press conference on Friday.

Erik Menéndez in his second trial testified for seven days on the graphic descriptions of his sexual abuse of the ages of 6 to 18 and also spoke about the sexual abuse that his brother experienced of his father, said the district prosecutor.

When asked who revealed, Erik Menéndez said he told Cano when he was 12 or 13 years old.

Cano, who died in 2003, testified in the 1990s and transmitted that same information: that Erik Menéndez mentioned abuse six years before the murders and that was the only communication they had about sexual abuse, said the district prosecutor.

That letter was never discussed in either judgments, said Hochman.

Erik Menéndez said he did not know about the letter until a 2015 Barbara Walters special published it, but this motion of habeas did not appear until 2023, said Hochman.

The defense in this motion of habeas argued that in order to resolve this case the jurors had to decide if the brothers were sexually abused by their father, but the jury never had to solve that question, Hochman said. Instead, the jury had to determine if the brothers conspired to kill their parents, if they killed them, what their mental state was, and if they did, if they acted in self -defense, Hochman said.

Hochman said that Rossello’s claims do not fail in the admissibility standard for habeas request because the brothers did not know about Rossello’s accusations until recent years, so he could not have influenced their mental state during crime and ” I could not play a role in itself -funeate or premeditated murder. “

Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition, an initiative led by the family that advocates the liberation of the brothers, condemned what they called the “evidence of abuse dismissal” of Hochman.

“We are deeply disappointed by his comments, in which he effectively broke new evidence and discredited the trauma they experienced,” said the coalition in a statement. “Suggest that the years of abuse could not have led to the tragedy in 1989 is not only scandalous, but also dangerous. Fear and trauma.

The collation also argued that the jury in the second trial “never heard the truth full.”

“They were prevented by the key testimony, and now, Da Hochman is trying to erase this reality once again,” said the statement. “Not only is he discarding the experiences of Erik and Lyle, he is silencing the survivors everywhere who know what it is not to be believed, ignored and retraumatized by a system designed to protect them.”

The brothers were sentenced in 1996 for the 1989 murders of their parents, José and Kitty Menéndez.

Lyle and Erik Menéndez, who were 21 and 18 years old, respectively, at that time, admitted to having fired their parents in the house of Beverly Hills of the family. The defense said the brothers acted in self -defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father, but the prosecutors claimed that they killed for money.

Lyle and Erik Menéndez were sentenced to two consecutive life imprisonment jaws without the possibility of probation.

In addition to habeas corpus request, the brothers have been following two other ways towards freedom.

Another path is through resentment, with which Hochman said his office will be in the coming weeks.

In October, the then District Prosecutor of the De-La George Gascón announced that it recommended that the life sentence of the brothers be withdrawn without the possibility that probation be eliminated, and that they should be sentenced by murder, which would be a 50 -year sentence to life imprisonment. Because both brothers were less than 26 years old at the time of crimes, they would be eligible for probation immediately with the new prayer.

The Prosecutor’s Office said that their resentment recommendations take into account many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón praised the work that Lyle and Erik Menéndez did behind bars to rehabilitate and help other inmates.

Weeks after Gascón’s announcement, he lost his career for re -election against Hochman.

Hochman said Friday that he has not yet decided if he supports the ressence. The next resentment hearing is March 20 and 21.

The third way to freedom is through clemency.

The brothers submitted a request for clemency to the governor of California Gavin Newsom. In November, Newsom said he would postpone Hochman’s “review and analysis of the Menéndez case before making clemency decisions.”