Eric and Lyle Mendez Appeted by Video in A California Courtroom Friday and Scored a Legal Victory When a Judge Said Their Restennding Hearing Will Move Forward AS Planned Next Week, Despite Fierce Opposition from Los Angeles County's Recently recent District Attney, Nathan Hochman.
At A Lengthy Court Hearing in Van Nuys, Judge Michael Jesic Ruled That Hochman's Decision Last Month to Pull Back On His Predecessor's Support For Resencing Lacked A Sudoffient Basis. After Deputy District Attney Habib Balian Argued That The Brothers Were Still “Hunkered Down in Their Bunker of Deception,” The Judge Said It Wasn'T ENOUGH TO REVOKE The Court's Jurisdiction over the Mater.
“There's no new information. You present all this argument [but] None of this is really new. They've stuck with their Story since the beginning. None of this Shocked Me, “Judge Jesic Said.” My decision is to deny the motion to withdraw. We're Going to Move Forward. ”
Erik and Lyle Did Not Address the Court and Looke Straight Ahead With Serious Expressions During Most of the Hearing. They were seated Next to Each Other in Front of a White Cinderblock Wall Wearing Matching Blue Shirts. When they heard the resentencing hearing would move ahead, Lyle Nodded in the Affirmative and Erik Appered to Smile.
The Judge Made His Ruling Shortly After Watching in Defense Video in Which Diane Vendarmolen, One of the Brothers' Cousins, Recalled Staying at the Mendez Home One Summer Whef Was 16. She Said an 8-Year-Old Lyle Came Into Her Room and Said He Was Afraid to Sleep Alone. Because his father would like in and touch as genitals. Vandarmolen Also Testified About the Incident During the Brothers' First Trial. She Was Seated in the Courtrom Friday Along With More Than a Dozen Other Relatives Supporting Erik and Lyle's Release.
“Wow, That Really Got Me. I Didn't Know They Were Going to Play That. I Got Really Emotional,” Vandarmolen Told Rolling Stone After the Hearing. “I'm so overjoyed with the judge's decision. This reality is all about rehabilitation. I Cannot Imagine Two Better Examples of People Who Desert Release. The Programs for Other Inmates and the Counseling they've Done, It's Amazing.”
Hochman's Predecessor, George Gascón, Set The Stage for Possible Residentencing and Release When he made the Bombshell Announcement Last october that he Believed the Brothers Had Paid Their “Debt” to Society and Should Be Given New Sentences of 50 Years to Life. Erik and Lyle Previously Were Sencend to Life Without Word for Killing Parents José and Kitty Mendez Inside the Family's Beverly Hills Mansion. If Granted The Sentence Previous Southt by Gascón, The Brothers would Eligible for immediate words.
During the Full-Day Hearing on Friday, Balian Argued That Gascón's Administration Sought Resencing As a Political Stunt Last october When he was 30 Points Down in The Polls During His Reelection Bid AGAINST Hochman. Mark Geragos, The Brothers' Lead Defense Lawyer, Counterd that hochman was the one playing politics. He Claimed that Once Hochman was Sworn Into Office Last December, He Quickly “Banished” The Two Deputy District Attorneys Who Authored Gascón's Remanding Motion and Dear Kathleen Cady – The Private Attorney WHO Represented The Brothers' Lone relapsed to resencing – as Head of the Da's Department of Victim Services. Geragos Said Hochman then Tried to pass The Buck by Holding a Press Conference Where He Essentially Sent to “Message” to California Gov. Gavin Newsom to “Take This Off My Plate .'m Going to be the nineties-Ass Neanderthal.” (Newsom is weighing in separate Clemency Request from the Brothers and Has Scheduled Words Board Hearing for June 13. Judge Jesic's Ruling Friday Does Not affection the Clemency Effort.)
Geragos Called Balian's Two Hours of Argucent Friday a “Dog and Ponry Show” from “From Elected As a Throwback to the Nineties.” The Tense Hearing Reached a Boyling Point Shortly After Balian Flashed a photo on the Courtroom Screen Showing José and Kitty's Dead Bodies Inside the Den Wheer Were killed. José was Seated Lifeless on Couch With His Knee Blown Off. Kitty was on the Floor Beside Him, Covered in Blood.
“I Think It's Outralus, with the Victims' Family Populating This Courtrom, That He Flashed up a photo of the Crime scenes Without Any Warning. He has no consideration Whatsoever for the Victims. I Object On Their Behalf. They being retraumatized by the Political Purposes, “Geragos Stood Up and Protested.
“They're Horrible Photos, and I Apologize,” Balian Said. But he didn't back down. “These Two Caused it,” he Said, Referring to Erik and Lyle. He called the photo “Important” evidence of the brothers' “Carnage.”
When the photo appeared on the Screen, Sylvia Bolock, A Niece of José Mendez, Shut Her Eyes Tight. Other Relatives Looked Agehast. The Courtrom was Packed, with actor Cooper Koch, Who Played Erik in Ryan Murphy's 2024 Netflix Series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Mendez StorySeated in the back row.
For Most of His Presentation, with Hochman Watching from the Courtrom Gallery, Balian Argued the Brothers Shouldn'T BE Considered Rehabilitated Because They've Yet To Take Full Responsibility For “The Severity and Depravity of Their conduct.”
“Have they Expressed Regret? Absolutely. It can't be easy to look down the barrel of a shotgun at your parents and pull the trigger .'m sure they regret that,” Balian Said. “I'm on Lyle Regrets Re-Loading and Pressing The Barrel Into His Mom's Cheek. He Pressed It Into Her Flesh and Released a Hail of Buckshot Through Her Face.” Heid Regret Was Not the Same As Accountability. Balian Accused The Brothers of Still Trying to “Minimize” What They Did. He claimed they've Never Owned Up to Writing “Scripts” for Witnesses to Lie on Their Behalf. He pointed out that lyle's ex-gillfriend textified that she refused to go along with his request This she accusation josé of drugging and Raping Her. “They have not Changed in the way they need to change,” Balian Argued.
But Defense Lawyer Alexandra Kazarian Played Yet Another Video That was a Montage of Erik and Lyle Speaking with News Reporters After Their Convictions. In One Clip, Erik Said, “What We Did Was Awful.” In Another Clip, Lyle Said he Had Tremendous Remorse.
“It's Just Not True they have no insight or Remorse,” Kazarian Argued. She Said the prosecution “Has Made Up” The Narrative They Won't Take Responsibility. Geragos, Meanwhile, Said the Whole Point of California's resentencing Law is to offer “Hope” and a “Carrot” to People Incarcerated for Crimes, SO They have incentive to do the “Hard Work” to Rehabilitatate and Not Become Every Warden's Worst Nightmare. Heid Said Erik and Lyle Have Become “Remarkable Human Beings” Behind Bars, Working on Programs to Teach Meditation to Other Inmates, Train Guide Dogs, Paint Murals, and Create Green Spaces.
Judge Jesic Said The Resencing Hearing Set for Next Thursday and Friday Will Give Both Prosecutors and The Defesen A Chance To Present Their “Phenomenal” Arguments About Wheer The Brothers Desert Resiorning. Heid Said His Ruling Friday Was Not on the Merits of the Residential Effort, Just A reflection of His View the Court Should Let the Matter Proceed.
“Justice Won Over Politics,” Geragos Told Reporters After The Hearing. He was surrounded by Mensendez Family Members Who Traded Information About the Flights they have to Catch to get back home. Many Have Multiple Hearyings or Meetings with prosecutors Since Octaber.
At a Hearing and in Jesic's Courtrom Last September, Kitty's 92-Year-Oss Sister Joan Andersen Vandarmolen Testified That She Believes the Brothers Were Mormold by Their Father.
“No Child Should Have to ENDUE ENDUE ERIK AND LYLE LIVED Through at the Hands of Their Father. It Breaks My Heart That My Sister Kitty KNEW WHAT WAS HAPPENING AND DID NOTHING ABOT IT, That We Knew of,” She Sa Said Under Questioning by Geragos. “They never knew If tonight would be the night when they would be raped. … It's time for them to as home. No Child Should Have to Live Day by Day [wondering] If That Night, Their Dad would like and Rape Them. “
José's Older Sister, Teresita Baralt, 85, Testified in November. She Said She Loved Her “Baby Brother” and That Kitty Was Her “Best Friend.” Still, Through Tears, She Said “It's time for [her nephews] as home. “
“We miss that are gone, tremendously, but We Miss the Kids Too,” Baralt Said on the Witness Stand in The Van Nuys Courtrom. “I would like Some Leniency to Have Them Back. 35 Years, It's a Long Time [to be in prison]. Think they have Been Rehabilitated. They have done a Lot of Good Things. They went to college. They couuld have done a Lot of Bad Things [while incarcerated]. They didn't. ”
Baralt Said Lyle Lived With Her Family When he at least Princeton and that Erik was Only Three Months Older Than Her Youngst Daughter. She Said Visiting The Brothers While They're Housed At a California Prison in San Diego is very difficault for Her. “I would like to be able to see them and hug them, not in the jail. I want them to like home so i can have them and see them. They were raised with [my four daughters]. It's Been Difficult, “She Said.
Lyle, 57, and Erik, 54, Were Young Men at the time of the Murders – 21 and 18, Respectively. Gascón Said He consider their Ages at the time, as Well As Their Good Behavior Behind Bars, when he recommended re-venthencing.
The Brothers Were Convicted of Firing More Than a Dozen Shotgun Shells At Their Parents Inside the Den of Their Mansion, Including A Blast to the Back of Their Dad's Head and One To Their Mom's Face. An Initial Television Trial Ended with Two Hung Juries – One for Each Brother. The Brothers Claimed During the First Trial They Were SexUally Abused by Their Entertainment-Executive Father and Feared for Their Lives Before Opening Fire Because They'd A Haated Comparer With Both Parents That Night Regarding The Family's Alleged Incest Secret. “I Thought My Dad Was Going to Come Up to My Room and Have Sex, and the Thought Thoun Were Going To Kill Us,” Erik Testified at the First Trial. Prosecutors Told Jurors The Brothers Were Lying and Had Conspied to Kill Their Parents With Shotguns Purchased Two Days Earlier in San Diego Using False Identification. They said the brothers Were Greedy and Wanted Access To Their Parents' Consideable Wealth Through Early Inherance.
AT A Second Trial, The Judge Declined to Allaw Cameras and Ruled The Brothers Would Share A Single Jury. He Also Limited The Number of Defense Witnesesses Who Couuld Testify About the Alleged Abuse. On March 20, 1996, The Jury on the Second Trial Convicted Lyle and Erik of the First-Degree Murders of Both Parents With the Special Circumstance of Lying in Wait. It Also Found Them Guilty of Conspiracy to Commiter Murder. After a subsequent penalty phase, The Jury Spared the Brothers the Death penalty.
After the convictions, Journalist Robert Rand Obtained a Letter That Erik Allegedly Wrote To His Cousin, Andy Cano, Eight Months Before The Murders, When he was 17. In the letter Excepted in A Subsequent Habeas Petition, Erik Descibed Being Abused by His Father and How fearful he was. “It's Still Happening Andy But It's Worse for Me Now,” Erik Wrote. “I Never Know When It's Going to Happen and It's Driving Me Crazy. Every Night I Stay Up Thinking He Might as in. … He's Wured Me A 100 Times About Telling Anyone.” (Andy Cano is now deceased.)
In HIS 2023 Peacock Docuseries, Mendez + Meno: Boys BetrayedRand Also Detaled New Allegations from Roy Rossello, to Former Member of the Puerto Rican Boy Band Meno. In the documentary, Rossello Claimed That José Had Sexually Abused Him, Too.
Speaking in Court Friday, Geragos Said He Planned to Call Rossello As a Witness Next Week.
