Responding to a defense effort to disqualify the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office from participating in a re-sentencing hearing for Erik and Lyle Menendez, District Attorney Nathan Hochman maintained Friday that the brothers' attorneys are simply unhappy with the prosecution's opposition to any change in their life prison sentences without the possibility of parole.
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"In the opposition, the District Attorney's Office has argued that in a `drastic and desperate step,' the defense has decided to `sidestep the central issue of re-sentencing,' and present an argument `devoid of merit' to recuse the entire District Attorney's Office," the district attorney said in a statement released shortly after the filing. "The entire defense argument over recusal boils down to the defense not being happy with the current district attorney's position on re-sentencing."
The case is due back next Friday in the Van Nuys courtroom of Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic, who refused last month to allow the prosecution to withdraw a motion filed under prior District Attorney George Gascón's administration that sought re-sentencing for the brothers.
"They've waited a long time to get some justice," defense attorney Mark Geragos said at the hearing last month. "Justice won over politics."
Erik Menendez, 54, and his older brother, Lyle, now 57, were convicted of the Aug. 20, 1989, shotgun killings of their parents, Jose and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion.
Attorneys representing the brothers hope to have them re-sentenced to a lesser term, either allowing them to be released or become eligible for parole. The two claim the killings were committed after years of abuse, including alleged sexual abuse by their father.
In court papers filed last week, Geragos, Cliff Gardner and Alexandra Kazarian, wrote that the motion was being made "on the grounds that, absent recusal, a conflict of interest would render it likely that the defendants will receive neither a fair hearing nor fair treatment through all related proceedings."
The defense noted that the judge will have to answer two questions -- whether the record shows a conflict of interest and, if so, if the conflict of interest is so severe that the District Attorney's Office should be disqualified.
"... The answer to both questions is yes. Because the record shows a conflict that renders it unlikely Erik and Lyle can receive a fair re- sentencing hearing, recusal is proper," the attorneys representing the Menendez brothers wrote.
In the prosecution's response, Assistant Head Deputy Habib Balian and Deputy District Attorneys Seth Carmack and Ethan Milius countered, "... Other than the fact that they do not agree with, or like, the current legal position of the District Attorney's Office, the defense has completely failed to articulate any legitimate conflict of interest which would create a likelihood that the defendants would be treated unfairly."
The prosecutors wrote, "... Like the prior administration's position which was contrary to one side of the Menendez family, the current position of the District Attorney's Office is still contrary to the position of one side of the Menendez family. This shift is based solely on a thorough review of the evidence and the law and not upon any bias, political motive, conflict of interest or some other incentive."
At the end of an April 17 hearing, the judge instructed both sides to return to court next week to discuss the admissibility of a state parole board risk-assessment report involving the brothers and the motion to recuse the entire District Attorney's Office from further involvement in the case.
No new dates for a re-sentencing hearing have been set yet.
The courtroom was crowded with Menendez family members, some of whom planned to testify of the brothers' successful rehabilitation during more than 35 years behind bars if the hearing had gone forward. The Menendez brothers watched via Zoom from the San Diego prison where they are incarcerated, but made no statements.
Hochman has said that his office strongly objects to the pair's re- sentencing, calling the murders "calculated, premeditated, cold-blooded killings."
"Our position remains clear: Until the Menendez brothers finally come clean with all their lies of self-defense and suborning and attempting to suborn perjury, they are not rehabilitated and pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety."
One of the brothers' cousins, Anamaria Baralt, who has been a vocal advocate for the two, said the defendants have shown "remorse and rehabilitation" while imprisoned, and "have repeatedly taken responsibility" for their crimes.
Meanwhile, state parole boards will conduct separate hearings for the brothers on June 13, then send their reports to Gov. Gavin Newsom to help him decide whether the two should receive clemency.
In a 2023 court petition, attorneys for the brothers pointed to two new pieces of evidence they contend corroborate the brothers' allegations of long-term sexual abuse at the hands of their father -- a letter allegedly written by Erik Menendez to his cousin Andy Cano in early 1989 or late 1988, and recent allegations by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, that he too was sexually abused by Jose Menendez as a teenager.
Interest in the case surged following the release of a recent Netflix documentary and dramatic series.
The governor said that with the exception of brief clips on social media, he has not watched dramatizations of the Menendez case or documentaries on it "because I don't want to be influenced by them."
"I just want to be influenced by the facts," Newsom said.
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