Los Angeles County prosecutors have asked for a time extension to file a response to Lyle and Erik Menendez’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus, a legal effort separate from their ongoing requests for resentencing, that seeks to challenge the legitimacy of their convictions and life sentences for the murders of their parents in 1989.
According to court papers filed Tuesday, the LA County District Attorney’s office has asked the court to delay the deadline for its response to the petition until Dec. 20, 2024.
The Menendez brothers filed their habeas petition on May 3, 2023 and the court has granted the DA’s office numerous extensions of time for its response, including in June, September and November of 2023 as well as in January, March, April, July, August and September 2024.
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The court filing Tuesday did not provide a specific reason for the time extension other than to cite state law that gives judges the authority to grant delays whenever there is “good cause.”
The petition filed by the Menendez brothers claims their convictions for fatally shooting their parents, as well as their life-without-the possibility-of-parole prison sentences, are unconstitutional in light of new evidence.
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One piece of evidence is a letter that was allegedly written by Erik Menendez to his cousin several months before the shotgun murders of their parents, with Erik discussing the childhood sexual abuse by his father, Jose Menendez.
“Every night, I stay up, thinking (Jose) might come in,” Erik wrote to his cousin, Andy Cano, in the letter. “(Jose) is crazy! He’s warned me a hundred times about telling anyone, especially Lyle.”
In addition to the effort to overturn the murder convictions, the defense attorneys are also trying to get the brothers' sentences reduced through resentencing based on the claims that they brothers were sexual abuse victims by their own father as well as their good behaviors in prison.
If the resentencing recommendation made by current and outgoing DA George Gascón is granted, the brothers could be immediately eligible for parole.
A judge on Monday moved the resentencing hearing to Jan. 30 and Jan. 31, 2025.
District Attorney-elect Nathan Hochman said the delay will give him enough time to go over the case.
"Judge (Michael) Jesic’s decision to continue the hearing on the resentencing motion to January 30-31 will provide me with sufficient time to review the extensive prison records, transcripts of two lengthy trials and voluminous exhibits, as well as consult with prosecutors, law enforcement, defense counsel and victim family members,” Hochman said. “I look forward to thoroughly reviewing all the facts and the law to reach a fair and just decision, and then defend it in court."
