LOS ANGELES (AP) — A choose has ordered Los Angeles prosecutors to elucidate why Erik and Lyle Menendez’s homicide convictions shouldn’t be re-examined in gentle of latest proof supporting their claims of sexual abuse by their father.
The July 7 order by LA County Superior Court docket Decide William Ryan was in response to a habeas corpus petition filed by the Menendez brothers in Might 2023 searching for a evaluate of their 1996 convictions for the killings of their dad and mom primarily based on new proof.
The brothers had been convicted of murdering their father, Jose Menendez — a robust report government — and their mom, Kitty Menendez, of their Beverly Hills house in 1989. Whereas protection attorneys argued the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors mentioned the brothers killed their dad and mom for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
Their first trials resulted in hung juries. On the second trial for each brothers, the choose excluded a considerable quantity of proof, together with testimony from a number of relations who witnessed or heard concerning the abuse. The brothers had been convicted and sentenced to life in jail with out parole.
In Might, a choose diminished their sentences to 50 years to life in response to a resentencing petition, making them eligible for parole. They are going to seem earlier than the state parole board in August.
The brand new proof included a newly found letter from Erik Menendez to his cousin Andy Cano through which he describes being abused by his father, and a declaration from Menudo boy band member Roy Rossello that he was raped by Jose Menendez within the Nineteen Eighties.
Whereas prosecutors argued that the proof was premature and inadmissible, Ryan sided with the Menendez brothers, saying that they had supplied ample proof of why the proof may have modified the end result of their convictions.
The Los Angeles County District Lawyer’s workplace now has 30 days to elucidate why the brothers shouldn’t be granted habeas corpus aid.
There are a number of doable outcomes if the choose grants aid, together with diminished sentences, a brand new trial, and even launch from jail.
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