Relatives and supporters of Erik and Lyle Menendez held a rally calling for the Menendez brothers' resentencing. LiveNOW's Christina Evans discusses the latest with legal analyst Neama Rahmani.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thanks for staying with us here on Live Now from Bucks. I'm your host Christina
00:03Evans. We do want to continue on with some of our other top stories that we're
00:07now following. We do want to head back to Los Angeles now. I want to show you a
00:11live look there in Southern California as we talk about one of those stories
00:15that's been continuing to capture our attention as the Menendez brothers are
00:20still trying to fight for their freedom after being jailed for more than 30
00:24years. We do know that the family of Eric and Lyle Menendez this week joined
00:28supporters for a rally in a news conference outside of the office of LA
00:34County District Attorney Nathan Hockman on Thursday. They are vowing to continue
00:38the fight for truth and justice. Let's listen in there with our partners at Fox
00:4211 in Los Angeles to give us a wrap of what happened at that event and on the
00:46other side we'll be talking with experts to see how the Menendez brothers push
00:50for freedom is going to go. Family and some out-of-town supporters already had
00:57plane tickets to be in LA for this hearing that was postponed. They decided
01:01to go ahead and turn it into a rally
01:05here for the Menendez brothers supporters marching around the Hall of
01:09Justice. Please give the family some space. Family members were scheduled to
01:14be in LA for a now postponed court hearing on the possible resentencing of
01:19Eric and Lyle. The brothers are serving a life in prison sentence for the 1989
01:25killing of their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez. We want the suffering to
01:30end. The only way it does is for Eric and Lyle to come home. The postponed
01:37hearing turning into a rally with formerly incarcerated activists. We're
01:43not just pleading for a second chance for two individuals. We're pleading for
01:48a second chance for those who are being extremely punished without an
01:52opportunity to come home. No punishment. Young supporters from afar. I came from
01:59florida. What makes it so important to you? Um because I believe that victims
02:05should be heard specifically by L. A. County D. A. Nathan Hawkman who wants
02:10the Menendez brothers to retract the claim they killed their parents because
02:15they thought Jose and Kitty were going to kill them after the brothers
02:19threatened to go public with accusations of sexual abuse by their
02:22father. Hawkman is hyper focused on one thing. What they said as scared kids. He
02:27says they need to take responsibility.
02:31Well they have.
02:33He says they need to acknowledge their past mistakes.
02:37Well they have. Most of the family did not march. Although that lady over
02:41there is terry Baralt. She was related to Jose Menendez. They don't want to
02:46make any statement but she wanted to be part of the demonstration. We make
02:51sure that the world knows who Eric and Lyle are now, not just who they were 35
02:57years ago. The D. A. Saying he'll still be in court in april to present his
03:02case. But keep in mind the brothers are also said to be in front of the parole
03:06board in june. The parole board supposed to report to the governor
03:10whether they would be a threat to the public if they were to be released in
03:15downtown Los Angeles. I'm Cristina Gonzalez. Back to you guys in the
03:18studio. Our thanks to Cristina Gonzalez for that report. Do you want to show
03:22this post as well from the new york post again surmising what happened
03:26there? That demonstration in honor of the Menendez brothers. The family
03:30though is blasting the hypocritical quote unquote L. A. D. A. For keeping
03:34them behind bars after what he outlined could lead to their resentencing. So
03:39what's important to note here is that this original date for resentencing has
03:43since been pushed to april 11th to get just a bit more context as to what's
03:48happening with this case. I want to bring into the conversation now legal
03:51analyst Nima Romani. Nima thanks so much for being with us here on live now
03:55from box. You've been helping us understand and break down the
03:58intricacies of this case for the last few months and what's leading up to
04:03their resentencing again. So now we know the sentencing that was scheduled for
04:07this week has been postponed to april 11th. What's happening there? When will
04:11we know some answers about this? We'll probably know at that april 11th
04:17hearing and this is why there's three different cases going on right now. And
04:22the first is the resentencing petition which we've been talking about which
04:26I'll get to. But before that resentencing petition was filed by
04:30attorney George Gascon who has now been replaced by Nathan Hawkman. There was a
04:34habeas petition that was filed by the Menendez brothers and their lawyer and
04:38that petition argued that the brothers were acting in self defense because
04:42they were abused by their father Jose. So the first thing that new district
04:46attorney Nathan Hawkman did is he held a press conference and he said that the
04:50brothers were not acting in self defense even if they were abused. That's not a
04:53license to kill and he thought their motive was financial. So that petition
04:58will be adjudicated. I expect it to be denied because I do think Nathan Hawkman
05:04is right even if the brothers were abused and I do believe that they were
05:07sexually abused at the hands of their father Jose and that their mother was
05:12either complicit or certainly didn't prevent it from happening. Under
05:16California law you can only use deadly force if you're at imminent risk of
05:20death or serious bodily injuries. So the brothers' case doesn't fall into the
05:25standard required for self-defense. So then we're looking at resentencing and
05:30that's more of an amorphous standard. It's really in the interest of justice.
05:34Now we saw many of the Menendez family members, really all of them except for
05:40one, do support the brothers resentencing and the resentencing would be life
05:45without the possibility of parole to life with the possibility of parole. Just
05:50giving them an option or the opportunity to make their case before the parole
05:54board. Here's the important thing to know about the California Parole Board. Governor
05:58Newsom is the ultimate decision maker. Even the parole board recommends parole
06:04for the brothers to be released. Governor Newsom can say yes or no and
06:07that's really the third case that we're talking about. The brothers have also
06:10filed for clemency to be pardoned by the governor. So I think ultimately this
06:16case will come down to what Gavin Newsom decides. He's asked for a report by an
06:22expert to see if the brothers pose an unreasonable risk to the public. That
06:26report should be prepared in the next couple of months and I think ultimately
06:31Gavin Newsom is gonna be the decision maker. This will be a big case because I
06:34think he's gonna run for the Oval Office in four years.
06:39And it will be something we'll continue to watch here and you brought up several
06:43points which make this case just so intricate in itself and I want to just
06:48focus on the DA Nathan Hockman now saying that he wants them to recant some
06:53of those statements again show that they're sorry. Is that standard for
06:57someone who's seeking some sort of resentencing to recant some of the
07:01statements again. The family saying they've already said they're sorry
07:04they've already apologized and gone at length. What are your thoughts on this?
07:07Well nothing is standard about this case Christina and it was really interesting
07:12what the District Attorney Nathan Hockman was trying to do. Ultimately it's
07:17up to Gavin Newsom like we've discussed and Gavin Newsom in a recent high
07:22profile case denied parole even though the parole board recommended it for
07:27someone named Sirhan Sirhan. He of course was an individual who shot and
07:31killed Senator Robert Kennedy and the reason Gavin Newsom said that he was
07:36denying parole was the fact that Sirhan Sirhan had not accepted responsibility
07:42had not admitted to the crime that he committed. So I think it's fair to say
07:47that the brothers have served 35 years they don't really pose a risk to
07:52themselves or anyone. They've had some rules violations but have otherwise been
07:57model inmates. So I think the fact that Hockman is focused on this admission
08:03this acceptance of responsibility is really trying to put this on Gavin Newsom
08:07and saying well he handled another high-profile case and denied parole
08:12because there was no admission. You should do the same for the Menendez
08:16brothers. Now with respect to the Menendez brothers obviously they've told
08:20different versions of the story. They said originally that it was a mob hit
08:24that Jose was sexually assaulting one of the brother's girlfriends. The story
08:30shifted over time obviously at trial and we're watching it right now they made
08:33the self-defense argument. So I don't know Nathan Hockman do you really want
08:37the brothers to come out and publicly say that they did this because they
08:41hated their father they wanted to get revenge there was a financial motive.
08:44Will that really move the needle? Potentially yes but I think one key thing
08:49that came out of his press conference is Nathan Hockman said he hadn't met
08:54with the Menendez brothers and that doing so wouldn't change his decision. I
08:58think I think that's something important that has to happen if he really does
09:01want that admission you should sit down and talk to Eric and Lyle and see what
09:05they have to say. I'm glad you brought that up because I was gonna say has he
09:08sat down with him has he spoken to them for him to feel like they don't have
09:12this sort of remorse that he's seeking but ultimately at this at this point you
09:17say that there's other avenues as well so you mentioned of course Governor
09:21Gavin Newsom and how he has the ability to grant clemency in this case which
09:26could see the brothers released nearly immediately if that's the case. You're
09:31talking about the fact that he might run for president this could get a little
09:33political for him of course with all the attention on this case what move do you
09:37think the governor is ultimately going to take while he knows that there are
09:41folks as we listen in that story from our partners there at Fox 11 flying in
09:46from around the country just to be at these hearings this is very important
09:50to people and they want to see these brothers released. There's a lot of
09:54support for the Menendez brothers right now Christina it really just goes to
09:57show the power of a Netflix series Monster has completely changed the game
10:01if you asked me a year ago I would say no way Eric and Lyle will be released
10:05but now it's all political and it really started with George Gascon the former
10:10district attorney when he was running for re-election and he was perceived as
10:14being soft on crime he's the one that initiated all this if he had just done
10:18it earlier months earlier the Menendez brothers would probably be out by now he
10:23waited too long he lost the election and now Nathan Hoffman is in and obviously
10:28he does not want to be perceived as being soft on crime so he's really
10:32pulled back this resentencing recommendation so whether it's the
10:37former district attorney the new district attorney or the governor
10:40Christina this whole case is entirely political and I'm sure the governor
10:46wants to do the right thing but he's probably also thinking this is gonna be
10:49a big deal when I campaign for higher office soon and what we're talking about
10:55what's truly next for the brothers as well I'm just showing still some of
10:59these photos that we have of the family and that rally that they held there in a
11:03Los Angeles we are hearing from those outspoken family members who say the
11:08Menendez brothers have served their time they've done all that they needed
11:11to do while behind bars it's time for them to come home but are there any
11:15family members still at this point contradicting that still feeling like
11:18they may have done it for more nefarious reasons like the position that's put out
11:22there that they did it only for the money there's one notable family member
11:26a relative of Kitty Menendez that does not want the brothers released but the
11:30overwhelming majority of them are in support and actually they got upset when
11:35they met with Nathan Hockman they thought that he was dismissive and they
11:38were pleading their case for the brothers to be released and that meeting
11:42apparently lasted three hours the families gave one account of that
11:47meeting Nathan Hockman gave a very different account but they did not see
11:51eye-to-eye you know I've talked to folks that are involved in the Menendez
11:56brother kiss case I know their lawyer I know Nathan Hockman I used to work with
12:01him I mean they're all fair reasonable people but this is the type of case
12:04Christina that really has really divided the country and folks that are
12:09watching there are people that think that they're victims of abuse and they
12:11should absolutely be free right now 35 years is more than enough there are
12:15folks who are watching the thing being sexually abused by your parent is one of
12:19the worst things that can happen people view them as victims other people think
12:24that they killed their parents in a horrific way and not just Jose their
12:29mother kitty for money and they think that these are violent criminals that
12:34should spend the rest of their lives in prison let's not forget this was a death
12:38penalty case ultimately the jurors here in Los Angeles California spared their
12:42life but there are a lot of people that think that Eric and Lyle should never
12:46see the light of day so this is the type of case that's really captured our
12:51attention but has also really brought out a lot of opinions on what the fair
12:57and just result is here all right let's talk about what's next the LA County
13:01District Attorney's Office motion to withdraw that resentencing petition is
13:05set for April 11th there at the Van Nuy courthouse but depending on what the
13:09court decides a hearing could be set as early as April 17th when that date rolls
13:15around what do you expect to come out of this case next what should we be looking
13:19for the news updates to come in the next few weeks so what I expect to happen is
13:24the judge is gonna make a ruling on the resentencing and there's a few
13:27possibilities the resentencing can be denied in which case the brothers will
13:30still be behind bars without the possibility of parole there will be the
13:36possibility that they're resentenced to life with the possibility of parole then
13:40they have to get before the parole board the parole board in California is a
13:43little backed up it may take four or five six months for that parole hearing
13:47to happen and there's the possibility albeit unlikely the judge says I'm gonna
13:52do something different I'm gonna sentence them to time served in which
13:55case they'll be out in a matter of days so those are the three possibilities in
14:00this case after that resentencing here is there a reason you say it's not so
14:05likely that the judge would just simply sentence them to time served I think
14:10it's less likely because even George Gascon who initiated this he didn't
14:14recommend a sentence of time served he recommended a sentence of life with the
14:19possibility of parole he would basically said let's have the parole
14:23board look into this to decide if the brothers should be released or not so
14:27it's possible but it's unlikely because no one except of course the family
14:32members who are involved in this case have recommended a sentence of time
14:36served so far all right well it's certainly a case we're gonna continue to
14:40follow right here on live now from box we appreciate Nima Rahmani our legal
14:45analyst helping us to break down some of the details in this intricate case
14:48thanks so much thanks Christina