A family-led group advocating for the release of Erik and Lyle Menendez from prison rallied outside the downtown Criminal Justice Center Thursday morning, calling on Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman to reconsider his opposition to re-sentencing the brothers. “Accountability shou ld not be weaponized to deny people the second chance they worked so hard for,” said Anamaria Baralt, a cousin of the brothers and part of the Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition. Baralt said the advocates were speaking up “for every person who has been told … that the worst thing they ever did defines them forever.” Baralt was joined by sentencing reform advocates and other relatives, including Tamara Goodell, also a cousin of Erik and Lyle. They accused Hochman of ignoring the positive work Erik and Lyle Menendez have done in prison and clinging to old talking points that ignore more recent developments in the case. “Today is about fairness and justice — and about not letting personal bias and politics get in the way … of what is right,” said Goodell, who added, “District Attorney Hochman doesn’t seem to want to listen or engage with us.” Goodell added that since entering the prison system, the brothers have been model prisoners. “They have dedicated themselves to improving the lives of incarcerated people. … Erik and Lyle have spent three decades avoiding the pitfalls that suck people into the” worst aspect of the criminal justice system, she added. “We are here in strong support of Erik and Lyle,” said Michael Mendoza, director of the reform group Latino Justice. “We believe that people should be held accountable, but in humane ways that provide hope. “… True public safety will come from redemption based on second chances,” he continued. Erik Menendez, now 54, and Lyle, 57, were convicted of the Aug. 20, 1989, killings of their parents, Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion. The brothers are serving life prison sentences without the possibility of parole for the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion. They claim the killings were committed after years of abuse, including alleged sexual abuse by their late father. The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office’s motion to withdraw a resentencing petition is set for April 11 in the Van Nuys Courthouse. Depending on what the court decides, a hearing could be set as early as April 17. Hochman’s predecessor, George Gascón, had supported re-sentencing, but Hochman reversed course. “As stated before, we are prepared to go forward if the court determines it has jurisdiction to do so on the court’s own motion for re-sentencing while requesting that the court allow the People to withdraw its re-sentencing motion filed by the prior District Attorney for the ‘legitimate reasons’ set forth the People’s withdrawal request filed on March 10,” Hochman said last week. State parole boards, meanwhile, will conduct separate hearings for the brothers on June 13, then send their reports to Gov. Gavin Newsom to help him decide whether they should receive clemency, Newsom said. “We will submit that report to the judge for the re-sentencing, and that will weigh in to our independent analysis of whether or not to move forward with the clemency application to support a commutation of this case,” Newsom said. Hochman said prosecutors have offered a path to the Menendez brothers in which they would have to “accept complete responsibility” for their criminal actions and acknowledge that their claim that the murders were committed in self-defense was “phony.” “But for now, while the Menendez brothers persist in telling these lies for the last over 30 years about their self-defense defense and persist in insisting that they did not suborn any perjury or attempt to suborn perjury, then they do not meet the standards for re-sentencing,” Hochman said. “They do not meet the standards for rehabilitation. They have not exhibited the full insights and accepted complete responsibility for their actions and as a result … they pose an unreasonable risk of danger to the community, and the re-sentencing should not therefore be granted.” Newsom called Hochman’s announcement “very significant,” but “it doesn’t fundamentally change the facts as it relates to the independent investigation in my office or the Board of Parole hearings. It just changes the recommendation from … the previous D.A. in L.A. supporting it and one now with the current D.A. opposing it,” Newsom said. 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Interest in the case surged following the release of a recent Netflix documentary and dramatic series. Newsom said that with the exception of brief clips on social media he has not watched dramatizations of the Menendez case or documentaries on it “because I don’t want to be influenced by them.” “I just want to be influenced by the facts,” Newsom said. ...read more read less