Lyle and Eric Menendez returned to life in prison on Tuesday on the possibility of parole and set the stage for a release more than 30 years later in the back of the bar after killing their parents at the Beverly Hills mansion.
The decision by Judge Michael V. Jessick of Los Angeles Superior Court came one day after the family testimony. They urged the court to reduce the brother's sentence for the 1989 murder.
“This was an absolutely horrible crime,” Judge Jessick said as he ruled. However, the crime was shocking, Judge Jessick also shocked him with the number of corrections officers who wrote letters on behalf of his brother, recording support that clearly shaking his decision.
“I'm not suggesting that they should be released,” he said. “That's not something I'll decide.”
But he continued: “I believe they've done enough for the last 35 years to get that chance,” he said, the future of the brothers would be in the hands of Gov. Gavin Newsom and officials with the state's parole department.
Judge Jessick's decision was the most important legal step ever in his long effort to win the brothers' release, but it is not the final step. In reducing the siblings' writing, the judge allowed them to immediately qualify for parole.
Attention is now being paid to state parole staff. The brothers were scheduled to appear before the board meeting on June 13th as part of a consideration of Mr. Newsom's generosity, another process unfolding in parallel with the efforts of responsiveness.
It was unclear whether the June hearing would address both demands of responsiveness and generosity. A spokesman for Newsom said his office has reviewed the judge's decision and has decided on the next step.
The brother's lawyer issued a brief statement after the hearing, thanking his supporters.
Annamaria Baratt, the brother's cousin who testified Tuesday, faced dozens of cameras gathered outside the courthouse. “I've been crying all day, and these are certainly tears of joy,” she said.
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan J. Hochmann opposed resentment to his brothers and repeatedly claimed that they had no demonstrated that they had “complete insight” into the crime. The brothers said Hochmann's office never abandoned their claim that they had killed their parents because they feared that they would kill them first.
In a statement posted on social media platforms, the District Attorney's Office said the analysis presented to the court helped judges ensure “all facts.”
“In this case, we must look at it with a critical eye, as well as in all cases, especially those that attract the public,” the statement said. “Justice should never be influenced by the sight.”
The decision to resent a brother is a surprising shift in the narrative that has attracted the nation's attention for decades. The brothers have failed over the years to appeal to their beliefs, and they say their hopes of being released have diminished over time. As the years went by, the brothers evolved into a cultural icon in themselves, accumulating loyal following as a series of docudramas and documentaries told their stories for a young audience.
In 1989, the tale of sexual abuse and murder in one of America's most risque cities was fascinating to the media and in general, foreshadowed an even greater obsession with another Los Angeles story, the murder case against O.J. Simpson.
The brothers said they plunged into the den at the Beverly Hills Mansion on a Sunday evening in 1989 and killed their parents with a shotgun as they endured years of sexual abuse from their father. They said they were afraid that their parents would kill them to keep the abuse secret. Lyle was 21 years old, Eric and 18 years old at the time.
The brothers, now two middle-aged men, appeared remotely at a res court hearing from a prison near San Diego on Tuesday, with witnesses sitting in blue jumpsuits after witnesses testified on their behalf.
After Judge Jessick said he would resent his brother, but before he said what the new sentence would turn out – the brothers made a statement. Through a video feed, they were held responsible for the crime and apologized to their relatives in court.
Lyle spoke first, saying that all the choices he made in August 1989 were his own, including the “choices to reload, go back to his burrow, run to his mother, and shoot him in the head.” He then said he was responsible for creating a “criminal legal system ock ha ha” by lying to the police and trying to solicit others to lie for him in the position of a witness at trial.
He said at the time he was a young man “scary and angry” and was ashamed of finding someone to seek help from the sexual abuse that was happening in his home.
Eric also spent a long time wondering what he was thinking the night his parents were murdered, saying, “I had to feel the fear my son felt when he fired a gun at them.”
At the time, the incident was carried out as a kind of calculation of policy and culture in the 1990s. Social attitudes about sexual abuse in skeptical view of the brothers' stories. Gavel-to-Gavel attempt coverage aired on television. And a late-night comic that regularly chuckles his brothers as privileged dilettantes.
Their first trial in 1993 landed in Los Angeles during a turbulent period. The Rodney King's assault officers catalyzed a fatal riot and were acquitted of the assault.
After their first trial ended with a Mistry, the brothers were tested alongside separate ju judges – they went to the second trial after Mr Simpson's acquittal.
This time, the brothers faced different rules in court. Cameras were banned and judges restricted testimony and evidence regarding sexual abuse. The ju judge found the murderous brother guilty and they were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In recent years, the brothers have elicited sympathy from many young people who were not alive at the time of the crime. Learning about the cases online, they came to believe that their brothers were abused by the criminal justice system and the media, and gathered in their cause on social media.
Laurel Rosenhall Reports of contributions.
