Menendez brothers resentencing updates: Hearing begins as Erik and Lyle fight for early release – UK Times

A deputy handed out some 16 tickets to members of the public outside the Los Angeles courthouse who wanted to view the Menendez brothers’ resentencing hearing, according to NBC News.

There are 16 seats available, some of which are standby seats. The tickets were handed out via a lottery system, the outlet reports.

The resentencing hearing has begun in Los Angeles, with the Menendez brothers joining virtually from a prison near San Diego.

The brothers are wearing blue prison jumpsuits and sitting together, according to reporters inside the courtroom.

Electronic devices are not allowed inside the courtroom.

The focus of today’s resentencing hearing will be the Menendez brothers’ claim of self-defense, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said.

The brothers have claimed they killed their parents in self-defense following years of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of their father.

Hochman expects the defense to call witnesses today as well.

“The prosecution does not fear those facts,” Hochman said. “We just want every part of the factual picture to be before the judge when he makes his decision.”

Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman spoke outside court ahead of the resentencing hearing Thursday, arguing the Menendez brothers should remain behind bars.

“We believe and the California courts confirm that, in order for someone to be rehabilitated, they need to fully come clean with all the entire breadth of their criminal conduct,” Hochman told reporters Thursday. “In this case, the Menendez brothers, for the past 30 years, have not come clean with that information.”

The Menendez brothers will reportedly highlight their rehabilitation efforts and self-help group attendance as they make a bid for a lesser sentence.

“For instance, they have perpetrated the lie, a lie of self-defense,” Hochman added. “It wasn’t their original story. It was actually their fourth story on why they brutally killed their parents.”

The family of Erik and Lyle Menendez last month rejected claims by the Los Angeles district attorney that the brothers hadn’t appropriately taken responsibility for the 1989 killing of their parents and said that any lies they told during their murder trial were due to trauma and fear.

“Kids lie when they’re scared, when they feel intimidated, and when they become traumatized. They lie when they don’t know who to trust. But they grow up, they learn, and they take responsibility,” said Tamara Goodell, a cousin of the brothers who spoke at a rally calling for the brothers’ release from prison.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos told reporters he doesn’t expect the judge to accept the prosecution’s filing to delay the hearing.

“I think it’s appalling, for lack of a better term, how the DA has treated this case,” Geragos told reporters outside the courthouse where the sentencing hearing is set to take place.

“I don’t know why in this case this particular DA…has decided he has some other interest to vindicate that has nothing to do with the victims,” he added.

While the Menendez brothers are pursuing resentencing, it’s not their only path to freedom.

The Menendez brothers could also be granted clemency by California Governor Gavin Newsom. This could have multiple outcomes, such as a reduced sentence or a pardon. As part of this process, a hearing is scheduled for June to discuss risk assessments set to be completed by the parole board.

The Menendez brothers could also undergo a new trial, which their legal team has already asked for.

A district attorney ensnared at the center of the highly anticipated release of the infamous Menendez brothers alleges he was labeled a Nazi collaborator by his boss, according to a new lawsuit.

Prosecutor Brock Lunsford announced Monday that he and his colleague Nancy Theberge were suing for over $250,000 in economic damages with a further $5 million in non-economic damages after superiors in the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office discriminated and demoted the pair.

But, the lawsuit, now seen by The Independent revealed that Lunsford says he was branded incompetent and a “quisling” by his superior – a derogatory term used to describe a traitor and associated with Nazi collaborator Major Vidkun Quisling in the 1930s.

The Menendez brothers’ sentencing hearing is set to begin today at 9:30 a.m. in Los Angeles, California.

The hearing is expected to last through Friday — that is, if it’s not delayed after prosecutors filed to pause the hearing until state prison and parole officers complete their risk assessments of the brothers.

Even if the hearing proceeds today and Friday, it’s unclear when exactly the judge will issue a decision.