LOS ANGELES – The family of Lyle and Eric Menendez blew up a Los Angeles prosecutor on Thursday, accusing the new district attorney of choosing justice over the fate of the murderer's brother.
At a rally outside LA County Superior Court, Lyle and Eric's cousins claimed that their brothers deserve to be rehabilitated and released more than 30 years after the execution-style murder of wealthy parents in 1989.
Speaking to a crowd of cheering protesters, family members and other advocates include former prisoners who spent time with Lyle in prison – District Attorney Nathan Hochman said he was using his brother as pawns for the political agenda of his harsh crime when he urged the court to reject their resententengentenergeding Motion and stay behind the bar.
“I can't imagine getting into his mind, but… it feels like a performance. It feels like he's on the agenda,” cousin Anamaria Bharat told the Post.
“When I saw what it was necessary for rehabilitation, they met and they exceeded it,” added Tamara Goodell, another cousin of Lyle, now 57, and Eric, 54.
They made the comment a day after Hochmann said he would consider responsiveness to the Menendez brothers. If they owned “all lies” since the violent murder 36 years ago.
“If they admit it sincerely and clearly for the first time in over 30 years, the full extent of their criminal conduct and all the lies they have spoken about it.” He told ABC News On Wednesday, he added that his office has a “checklist” of 20 manufacturing from his brothers.
Hochman also doubts the truth of the new evidence that the brothers were abused by their fathers, particularly the note written by Eric, who detailed the alleged abuse in 1988.
Baralto, who spent time with his cousin as a child, accused Hochman of being “hypocritical” with a focus on physical evidence of the crime, ignoring other evidence that his brother had been abused, rehabilitated while in prison, and showed repentance for their actions.
“Abuse informs the sentence, and so does age. They were only 19 and 21 when they committed the crime. I don't know why. [those factors] It's not applied here,” she lamented.
Goodell agreed, adding that Hochman appears to be venting family discussions and concerns during a private meeting earlier this year.
“It felt like he wasn't listening to us, and that wasn't talking to him.
The district attorney vehemently denied the family's allegations on Friday.
“While I sympathize with their feelings, my duty is to follow the facts and laws in this case and in every case. …I have shown that the district attorney's office is willing to rethink its position in rethinking the position of restinsing if Menendez's brothers are cleaned for the first time in admitting lies in Central Defence over 30 years.
“The Menendez brothers and their families can always go directly to the government (Gavin) Newsom, which is not bound by the same legal standards, and we will discuss him to acknowledge their tolerance,” he added.
Michael Mendoza met Lyle Menendez while serving his sentence at the age of 17 in the 1990s.
“I came across Lyle on the handball court. He said, 'Are you the little kid you're doing here? He was trying to help me and be a mentor,” said Mendoza, who currently works for the advocacy group Latino Inspection.
He doesn't think that his brothers should be given a “non-intrusion card,” but he doesn't think that they should be judged in good faith by the court and the state parole board.
Ballard said he regularly talks to his siblings via smart tablets given in prisons – noting that they behave like model prisoners and described a hospice programme created to help care for terminally ill prisoners.
“To get lost when talking about rehabilitation is all the benefits of life over the last 35 years, and we did it without the chance of a release, knowing that they would be free,” she said.
She said that while her brothers never mentioned abuse when they were young, they felt strange “energy” that was different from their happy home as children.
Both brothers received life sentences without the possibility of parole after two famous trials in the 1990s. Prosecutors allegedly Lyle and Eric killed their parents — wealthy music producer Jose Menendez and his wife Kitty — for inheritance.
The Netflix hit documentary brought last year's case back to the spotlight, with over 20 families gathering in LA in October to advocate for a release.
Next month, LA County Superior Court will decide whether to limit the sentence from murder to manslaughter.
In June, the state's parole board will hold a final hearing and submit a recommendation to Newsom on whether to grant tolerance to his siblings.
Thursday's rally attracted a large crowd, with many supporters getting the signs and reciting speeches to Bullhorn as they gathered before the courthouse.
“[I’m] Here we are to support victims of sexual abuse who have no voices,” said Jules Sims, who traveled from Florida to support his brother.
