A hearing to determine whether the Menendez brothers should be resentenced more than three decades after killing their parents has been postponed due to the ongoing fires across the Los Angeles region.
Originally scheduled for later this month, the hearing for Erik and Lyle Menendez has been pushed to March, according to an announcement Friday by the county’s top prosecutor.
This is the second time Nathan Hochman, the new Los Angeles County District Attorney, has postponed debating the brothers’ future behind bars after his predecessor, George Gascon, recommended they be resentenced and freed on parole. The brothers are serving a life sentence for the 1989 murders.
The Los Angeles area continues to work toward containing the fires, which have killed at least 27 people and levelled multiple communities.
The infamous case dates back to 1989 when Lyle, 21, and Erik, 18, fatally shot their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion.
During their initial trial, the defence claimed the brothers acted in self-defence after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father. Prosecutors, however, argued that their motive was financial gain.
The first trial, which featured separate juries for each brother, ended in mistrials. In 1996, a second trial excluded much of the evidence related to abuse claims and both brothers were convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.
Mr. Hochman, who defeated Mr Gascón in the November elections, has said he needed more time to review the case, and would not take a public stance like his opponent. He planned to announce his decision on whether his office would back the resentencing effort on 30 January. That has now been pushed to March 20.
Mr Hochman campaigned on eliminating what he called “pro-criminal, extreme policies” and aimed to prosecute offenses more rigorously to deter crime.
In the wake of the deadly fires in Los Angeles, he has aggressively gone after looters, arsonists and people pretending to be first responders to get into evacuated areas. He’s also deploying teams to affected areas to prevent – and prosecute – insurance fraudsters targeting wildfire survivors.
On Friday, Mr Hochman’s office filed arson charges against six men who are accused of igniting blazes in the wake of the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires. (BBC News)
