XPost: alt.activism.death-penalty, alt.los-angeles, sac.politics
XPost: alt.society.liberalism, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh

https://abc7news.com/16001593/

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Monday he's
asking the court to withdraw the previous district attorney's motion for resentencing for Lyle and Erik Menendez, calling the brothers' claims of self-defense "lies."

"We are prepared to go forward" with the hearing regarding their
resentencing case, Hochman said at a news conference Monday. "However, we
are asking the court to withdraw the previous district attorney's motion
for resentencing, because we believe there are legitimate reasons and the interests of justice justifies that withdrawal."

The resentencing hearing is set for March 20 and 21.

The request to withdraw the resentencing motion is "based on the current
state of the record and the Menendez brothers' current and continual
failure to show full insight and accept full responsibility for their
murders," Hochman said in a statement. "If they were to finally come
forward and unequivocally and sincerely admit and completely accept responsibility for their lies of self-defense and the attempted suborning
of perjury they engaged in, then the Court should weigh such new insight
into the analysis of rehabilitation and resentencing -- as will the
People."

Hochman said his decision comes after reviewing trial transcripts from
both trials, prison records and videotaped trial testimony, as well as
meeting with Menendez family members, defense attorneys and past
prosecutors.

Hochman stressed that the brothers changed their story multiple times.

The brothers initially proclaimed their innocence and said the murders may
have been Mafia hits.

The truth about the brothers being responsible came after Erik Menendez confessed to his therapist and that confession tape was turned over to the police

"They convinced, not just the media, not just the police, but their family
and their friends that they were 100% innocent of these crimes, until eventually these tapes came out," Hochman said.

The "next iteration of the story" was when Lyle Menendez allegedly asked
his girlfriend to claim Jose Menendez drugged and raped her, Hochman said.

The brothers later said Erik Menendez was raped by their father and Lyle Menendez was raped by their mother, he said.

At trial, the brothers claimed self-defense, saying they believe their
parents were going to kill them.

The "brothers have never come clean and admitted that they lied about
their self-defense as well as suborned perjury and attempted to suborn
perjury by their friends for the lies, among others, of their father
violently raping Lyle's girlfriend, their mother poisoning the family, and their attempt to get a handgun the day before the murders," the DA said in
a statement.

The court needs to "analyze whether the Menendez brothers' lack of full
insight and lack of complete responsibility for their murders overcomes
... the other factors justifying a resentencing like the Menendez' length
of time in prison, their age at the time of the murders, their upbringing
and any sexual abuse they experienced, their extensive rehabilitation
efforts in prison including getting educational degrees and involvement in community and prison programs, any supportive letters from prison
officials and victim family members, their health, and the low prison risk score," Hochman said.

Lyle and Erik Menendez are serving life without the possibility of parole.

In October, then-LA County District Attorney George Gascón announced he supported resentencing for the brothers. Gascón recommended their
sentences of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and said
they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of
50 years to life. Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately with the new
sentence.

The DA's office said its resentencing recommendations take into account
many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón praised the work Lyle and Erik Menendez
did behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and help other inmates.

Weeks after Gascón's announcement, he lost his race for reelection to
Hochman.

When Hochman came into office on Dec. 3, he promised to review all the
facts before reaching his own decision. He said that effort included
speaking to all the prosecutors and defense attorneys involved as well as reviewing thousands of pages of court filings, trial transcripts and confidential prison records.

Hochman's announcement on Monday comes days after one of the brothers'
cousins, Tamara Goodell, slammed the DA in a letter to the U.S. Attorney's Office Civil Rights Division.

Goodell accused Hochman of being "hostile, dismissive and patronizing"
during two meetings in January with family members who want the brothers released. She said the "lack of compassion was palpable, and the family
left feeling not only ignored but further intimidated and revictimized."

Goodell wants Hochman removed and the case turned over to the attorney general's office.

This case dates back to 1989, when Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik
Menendez, then 18, shot and killed their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez,
in the family's Beverly Hills home.

The defense claimed the brothers acted in self-defense after enduring
years of sexual abuse by their father. Prosecutors alleged they killed for money.

Their first trial ended in a mistrial. Lyle and Erik Menendez were
convicted in 1996 following their second trial.

The brothers were sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms without
the possibility of parole.

Besides resentencing, the brothers have been pursuing two other paths to freedom.

One is their habeas corpus petition, which they filed in 2023 for a review
of two new pieces of evidence not presented at trial: a letter Erik
Menendez wrote to his cousin eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse from his father, and allegations from a former boy band
member who revealed in 2023 that he was raped by Jose Menendez.

Hochman announced in February that he's asked the court to deny the habeas corpus petition, arguing the new evidence isn't credible or admissible.

The third path to freedom is through the brothers' request for clemency,
which has been submitted to California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

On Feb. 26, Newsom announced that he's ordering the parole board to
conduct a 90-day "comprehensive risk assessment" investigation into
whether the brothers pose "an unreasonable risk to the public" if they're granted clemency and released.

"There's no guarantee of outcome here," Newsom said. "But this process
simply provides more transparency ... as well as provides us more due
diligence before I make any determination for clemency."


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

The disease known as Kamala Harris has been effectively treated and
eradicated.

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

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, 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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