Erik and Lyle Menéndez rely on a multipopiae strategy as the brothers see the resentment of their parents’ California murders, legal experts said.
The brothers had their first resentment hearing in Los Angeles on Thursday and will return to court on May 9 while trying to leave their parents, José and Kitty Menéndez, in 1989.
Los Angeles’s lawyer, Tre Lovell, told Fox News Digital that the defense is focusing on three important strategies: the rehabilitation of the brothers, the testimony of the witnesses of the characters and the review of sexual abuse that they claim to have suffered as Shilldren.
“They have changed since the crimes occurred,” said Lovell, citing years of efforts after the conviction, including the change of a university degree in UC Irvine, the main classes of self -help in prison and initial support programs. Initiative.
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Lyle and Erik Menéndez are seen as young men with their photos of the photos. The brothers are currently fulfilling life imprisonment for the murders of their parents, José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menéndez in 1996. (Ronald L. Freele/Los Angeles Times through Getty Images)
“The resentment criteria focus mainly on the behavior after the conviction to ensure that the defendants have changed and rehabilitated, and are not a threat to the public,” he said.
Supporting your application, the defense is expected to present the testimony of prison guards, supporters and family members, including those who once oppose their release.
“The fact that family members now support their launch is very powerful,” Lovell added.
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New Jersey lawyer, David Gelman, intervened in the recent rejection of the defense against the use of the Prosecutor’s Office of the photos of the graphic crime scene that are shown holding a hearing last week.
“The defense presents a good argument,” Gelman told Fox News Digital. “They say that the horrible images violated Marsy’s law, which is supposed to protect the rights of victims.”
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The defense states that Terry Baralt, the 85 -year -old man of the brothers, was traumatized to see the graphic photos of the crime scene. It was hospitalized after the audience.
“We are devastated by sharing that Terry Baralt has hospitalized and is in critical condition after the cruel and careless behavior of the Los Angeles District Prosecutor in court,” said a family statement. “No physical pain has prevented him from being there for his nephews. But the exhibition placed by the district prosecutor’s office pushed their attacks.”
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“I would like my family to see those images,” Judge Michael Jesus said in court on Thursday.
Gelman said the defense hearing is not public perception, but the judge. He said that painting the Nathan Hochman district prosecutor’s office as “too jealous or vindictive” could help influence the decision in favor of the prayer of the brothers for freedom or a reduced sentence.
Lyle, left, and Erik Menéndez sit down with defense lawyer Leslie Abramson, on the right, in the municipal court of Beverly Hills during an audience, November 26, 1990. (AP Photo/Nick UT)
The Comprehensive Risk Assessment Report (CRA), which was a psychological examination ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom’s office remains the biggest obstacle for defense to overcome it, Gelman said.
The Newsom office told Fox News Digital that the risk assessment will be completed on June 13, 2025. They said that his office notified Jesus the state of the CRA report and offered to share it with the court, if requested.
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“The judge already said he will not govern until he sees the reports of the CRA,” Gelman said. “If this is a uniform argument at this time, the report will include the balance in one way or another.”
A resentment hearing for Lyle and Erik Menéndez was a hero at the Van Nuys Palace in Los Angeles on April 17, 2025. (Derek Shook for Fox News Digital)
Neama Rahmani, former federal prosecutor and president of the litigating lawyers of the west coast, said the CRA report, although important, will not be the decisive factor in the judge’s deliberations.
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“The Risk Assessment Report is something that the probation Board should consider. It is not a factor in resentment,” he explained. “The resentment factors are Erik and Lyle’s age at the time of murders, being victims of sexual abuse, prison behavior and rehabilitation.”
When focusing on these factors and diverting the risk argument for the probation Board, Rahmani said, the defense is strategically guiding the judge to a decision that could make probation a possibility without declaring them today.
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Erik Menéndez, on the left, and his brother Lyle, in front of his house of Beverly Hills. (Los Angeles Times through Getty Images)
What follows?
On Thursday, Jesus announced that they will meet on May 9. Erik Menéndez was upset and his brother Lyle had no emotions since his commitment to freedom was retreated.
The lawyer of the brothers, Mark Geragos, presented a motion of challenge against Hochman after the decision. A motion of challenge requests that the individual move away from a case due to a possible conflict of interest or bias that prevents them from operating Impartially.
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The Menéndez brothers and their supporters have been pressing for a resentment hearing, saying that they were unfairly condemned to life imprisonment in 1996 for killing their parents in their Beverly Hills Home in 1989.
Both Lyle and Erik Menéndez have presented themselves claiming that their sexual father abused them, offering a Different narrative of the murders That history told its lawyers in the 1990s.
His first judgment ended in a null trial, when jurors could not agree on their destiny. After a second trial in the mid -1990s, in which some of his evidence on the Alleged sexual abuse It was excluded, the jurors agreed with the prosecutors that their reason was greed.
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If the judge decides to resent the Méndez brothers, it would depend on the state -owned Board to consider their release.
Stepheny Price of Fox News Digital and Mike Ruiz contributed to this report.