A judge ruled Friday that Erik and Lyle Menendez's resentencing hearings can continue despite opposition from the Los Angeles County district attorney, reports the AP. They were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole at ages 18 and 21 after being convicted of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. Former Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón asked a judge last year to change the brothers' sentence from life without the possibility of parole to 50 years to life. That would made them immediately eligible for parole because they committed the crime when they were younger than 26. But Gascón's successor Nathan Hochman reversed course and submitted a motion last month to withdraw the resentencing request.
Hochman's office said it could not support the brothers' resentencing because they had not admitted to lies told during their trial about why they killed their parents and did not "fully recognize, acknowledge, and accept complete responsibility" for their crime. But Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic said prosecutors can make that argument during the resentencing hearing. "Everything you argued today is absolutely fair game for the resentencing hearing next Thursday," he said. The brothers appeared in court over Zoom but didn't make any public statements. Their attorney Mark Geragos said: "They've waited a long time to get some justice. Today is actually probably the biggest day since they've been incarcerated."
While the defense argued the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors said they killed their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance. Deputy district attorney Habib Balian said Friday the key issue with Gascón's resentencing petition was that it did not fully address rehabilitation and missed key elements of the original crime committed. Balian presented evidence and video clips of the brothers' testimony from the first trial to demonstrate instances where they "hunkered down in their bunker of deceit, lies, and deception." He said the brothers killed their parents out of greed when they learned they would be taken out of the will, citing psychiatrist's notes that he said showed "this was not self-defense." Geragos called the presentation a "dog and pony show," and said it was "nothing more than political cover" as a result of Hochman defeating Gascón in the district attorney's race.
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